Mask of Aura
by Anime-Mecha Fan
Summary: Kezoa is a normal sixteen-year-old girl, however when she gets transported to the Island Mata Nui and her body drastically changes. Then she meets the Toa Nuva, who may be her only chance of survival. Rated T. NOTICE: REWRITTEN!
1. It Begins! A Monster Under My Bed?

Disclaimer: I do not own Bionicle, or its parent company. This story was created for the entertainment of the writer and the readers and does not reflect anything on Bionicle, Lego, or any of its affiliates.

AN: Takes place after _Mask of Light_.

* * *

The headquarters of the Order of Mata Nui was in an uproar. After recent developments required it, the head of the Order, Toa Helryx, has called a meeting of all officers present within the area. Large and small, male and female, of different villages and commanders of different powers and masks, all gathered within one room to discuss the goings on and what was to be done about it. The tension in the room is overpowering, and it is a mix between excitement and apprehension, the voices of the present members overlapping one another and becoming near indistinguishable from one another as the meeting carried out:

"The Mask of Light has surfaced!"

"As has its wearer, the Toa of Light!"

"The Makuta has been defeated, and the underground passageway to the island city of Metru Nui rediscovered!"

"I imagine the Makuta won't be gone for long, though."

"This is a sign. The Great Spirit _must_ be revived!"

"But where is he? His location has long been lost to the faded scrolls and long forgotten songs of ages past."

"Even so, we _must_ find him."

"But how can we locate him?"

"Does anyone recall where the Codrex keystone was last placed? It has the knowledge pertaining the Great Spirit's whereabouts!"

"It has been hidden on the island city of Metru Nui. But that island has been ravaged by the ebb and flow of time, and we cannot be sure that the keystone is still in one piece there, or if had been stolen long ago by the Visorak horde when they occupied the island and taken to a different area entirely."

"The Makuta cannot touch a sacred artifact!"

"But a Visorak—a Rahi—can, even if it _is_ under the control of the Makuta."

"If this is true, then we are lost. We cannot possibly hope to find the Great Spirit without the Codrex!"

"Then we must find the keystone."

"But _how_? If it has been moved, then it would take all of us—and more—to find it again, and even then, we cannot tap into its power without—"

"—the Kanohi Aura. The Great Mask of Spirit-Seeking."

"Yes. And it has not surfaced since _before_ the time before time, and has not been seen outside of carvings of the legends."

"We _must_ find it."

"Oh? Since you're so keen upon it, are you proposing to search for it yourself, Dion?"

"I am. If you so wish it, Toa Helryx."

"I do. Then let it be known from this day forth, that the duty to search out the Kanohi Aura—or its herald—belongs to Dion, and Dion alone, while other choice members will depart to search for the Codrex. Once you find the mask or the herald, Dion, you are at the next opportunity to bring them here, so as we can begin our search for the Great Spirit, Mata Nui. Do all present members of the Order agree with this proposal?"

"AYE!"

"And do you, Dion, accept the terms of contract?"

"Yes, Toa Helryx. I do."

*()()()()()()()()()()*

Kezoa's face hurt.

It had been hurting since a month ago, when she woke up one morning feeling like something had crawled under her skin and made a nest in her face. Some days it felt numb beyond belief, and other days she wanted to scratch her entire face off. She had seen a dermatologist when it was at its peak of annoyance, but the doctor couldn't identify any factor or disease that caused this. Today it was a mixture between the two: it felt like her face had fallen asleep, with pins and needles prickling her pores. Speaking of which, the one thing beneficial to this unusual dermal condition was that her pores seemingly disappeared overnight.

_They're still there_, Kezoa reminded herself offhandedly (and slightly begrudgingly), _I can see them in the mirror if I look close enough after I take a hot shower._

It was odd, because her face was feeling fine the morning of this day. It had started stinging the minute she stepped outside to participate in her neighborhood's annual summer block party. She was having fun; there was food and games and talking with her family and friends, but the feeling of all of it was dampened due to the fact that her _face_ just _wouldn't stop itching_.

She had to stop her hand from reaching up and scratching her face bloody as she gathered around with several other teenaged friends of hers and her little brother, Zeke.

They were going to participate in a scavenger hunt. Kezoa had long put off playing a part in the game, but this year her parents insisted that she join as the partner to her twelve-year-old brother in an attempt to strengthen the "bond" between them. But they were classic brother and sister. There was hardly a "bond" there to begin with.

Zeke wasn't too pleased about the situation turn out either, based upon what Kezoa got from his overall body language standing beside her as they stood in a ring around the host of the hunt while they read out the list of what they were going to be looking for. She was four years older than he was (going onto five more) and even though she was still as much of a kid as she was, she was a bit of a stick in the mud by his standards. Despite having been regularly moved around from city to city within the country within the last few years due to the nature of their father's work. Kezoa was not very adaptive. She _always_ opposed to change if she could do anything about it, whereas Zeke was always ready for a new adventure. He could make new friends at the drop of a hat, whereas it took Kezoa a little longer—if at all—before they made their next big move, and Zeke was always ready to point this out at whatever opportunity possible.

Kezoa wasn't going to say that he was wrong, but it wasn't like she was going to _admit_ to her flaws anytime soon. She had always been that way, and it would take _a lot_ very soon and very quickly to change her set habits and personality anytime soon. She knew this to be true, and she had adamantly told her parents this multiple times in light of the recent situation:

They were going to move again. This time to landlocked city to help with the growth of a new location from her father's employing company.

As the hunt host finished his lecture, Kezoa looked up at the sky. It was sunset, the sky splashed in orange, purple, pink and slight blue bands all across the sky. The block party had started fairly late in the day, around three o'clock, and the scavenger hunt was the last activity before all of the families present went home.

While she was looking up at the sky, a dark streak blazed quickly over her field of vision, across the heavens. Kezoa started, and then rubbed her eyes quickly.

"What the heck…?" Kezoa squinted and looked around, wondering if maybe she had just seen something or just "saw" something. She either did, or she didn't.

"Hm." Kezoa shook her head. She felt a sharp jerk on her arm and she was suddenly at eye-level with her brother.

"Earth to Kezoa!" he snapped, giving the top of her skull a hard rap with his knuckles, "We've started! Get a move on!"

Kezoa pulled her arm out of her brother's grip and straightened to her full height. "Fine, fine. Don't get your panties in a snarl."

Zeke glared at her and shoved a piece of paper into her chest. "There. In case you weren't listening, all of the items are inside the park! Let's split up; you go that way, I'll go the other way!"

Kezoa looked to see where he was pointing. His forefinger was extended towards the far end of the park, where a long-lived forest of deciduous trees sprouted.

"The stuff is in _there_?"

"The good stuff! The ones that'll get us the most points!" Zeke grabbed her arm roughly and shoved her in the direction of the forest, "Go! Before the other kids get the stuff before we do!"

Kezoa jogged off towards the forest, but at the last second she turned her head around and stuck her tongue out at her little brother before she vanished into the darkness of which. After trotting a few ways, she stopped and lifted up the piece of paper to her eyes. It was unusually dark inside the forest; more so than it usually was.

_I don't want to be in here long_. She told herself, _I'm just going to find the darn thing and then get out._

Kezoa had never had a good experience with forests, whenever she had been inside one of any kind; natural or concrete. Her sense of direction was very poor, ever since she had learned to walk. Over the course of her sixteen years of life you could count on four hands the amount of times her mother had called store security when Kezoa would wander away to find the toy isle and end up on the opposite end of the store and then get further lost when she would try to backtrack and find her mom. Considering the day and age that she lived in, Kezoa counted herself very lucky that she hadn't been picked up and dragged away by some creep prowling the store. She had been told over and over the rule that if you ever got lost, you should stay in once place so that you could be found, but Kezoa was never one to sit still. It made her uncomfortable to stay in one place if she had gotten lost, which only made matters worse.

Even as she grew older, Kezoa's sense of direction was poor enough that her tiny group of close friends joked (as well as Zeke, although his was a little more obnoxious) that she could get lost in a small ten-by-ten room if she didn't have a map leading to the door.

The object on the list that amounted to the highest point was an old hubcap, and the hint was that it was next to a tree. Making sure that she never wandered too far from the exit of the wood, Kezoa began to comb the area, checking the trunks at the base of the tree, and looking up into the branches that she could climb. Whenever a tree never yielded up what she was looking for, she continued, moving from tree. As she became focused on the task at hand, she failed to notice that the woods around her grew darker and darker, wandering farther and farther away from the exit into the park and the branches of the trees grew thick and tangled together, nearly blocking out the sun.

She didn't keep track of how long she was looking, but after some time of searching she deemed that someone else either got it before her or she was barking up all the wrong trees. So Kezoa looked up and over towards the exit—at least, what she thought was the exit. Her heart stopped when she realized she couldn't see the green lawn of the park. Casting her eyes about quickly, Kezoa saw that there was _no_ trace of light _anywhere_; it was only trees tangled together as far as she could see. Though she kept on telling herself otherwise, Kezoa knew that somehow she had gotten herself lost.

"Great." Kezoa huffed. She slumped over and blew a strand of hair out of her eyes in annoyance. As she continued searching, her mind began to wander as she thought of events prior to today:

Around the time her face started to go numb, she had been getting terrifying nightmares of robots in multi-colored armor, fighting shadow 'bots in a never ending war. There were tall ones, and then there were little ones as well, but her nightmares mostly focused on the tall ones.

In her most recent dream—which had been a week ago—she had dreamed of a golden robot fighting a gigantic, twenty-foot robot. Their words and arguments were garbled and their features were no less blurred and to this day she couldn't remember any details beyond their colors, and it was nearly impossible for her to understand what the heck they were saying, but she followed the action with her eyes as the golden robot and the black robot fell into a shining mercury-like pool together and came out as one being, opening a huge door and holding it there while the little robots and other taller ones went through.

The door then collapsed, crushing the gold-and-black robot beneath it in a bloody explosion.

She had woken screaming, and her face had never hurt worse than it did that night. She had told her parents about the dreams, but all the advice they gave her was to write it down and maybe she would become a famous author. But you forget ninety percent of your dreams, and though she was certain that she had dreamed more of this fantasy realm nights before, she could remember barely of it, and she was no good and coming up with things over the top of her head.

Kezoa had allowed her mind to wander to far, however, as when she suddenly became conscious of herself when it began to get cold around her.

_Uh-oh_. She started, _how long have I been gone?_

Kezoa looked around. It was very dark around her, with very little light peering in between the leaves. It must have _at least_ been a while. Did the scavenger hunt finish and everyone went back to their homes?

Kezoa picked a direction, picking up her feet and began to run, thoughts of paranoia and terror coursing through her that maybe everyone left her inside the forest, thinking she had already gone home.

She didn't stop running until she broke out of the wood, running into Zeke who had his back turned to the forest.

Zeke let out a surprised cry as they collided and fell to the ground. The long grass that hadn't been cut since March for some reason broke some of their fall, but it wasn't enough as when Zeke pushed her off of him he lifted up his head and held a hand to his nose, blood seeping through his fingers.

The adults—all of them, including their parents—ran over to them and helped them up. Looking around, Kezoa saw that all the other kids that had participated in the contest had arms full of second-hand items and etcetera while they gathered around and either laughed or help Zeke with his bloody nose.

"How long was I gone?" Kezoa looked up at the sky. Though it had turned somewhat a navy-blue color, there was still some evidence of a receding sunset.

"Long enough," Zeke grumbled beneath his nose, now plugged at the bridge to stop the bleeding, "that we lost the competition."

"Huh?!"

Zeke looked up at her, "Everyone else found all the good stuff before you or me. It's been over for five minutes now."

Kezoa's face and heart fell. Though she knew it was a long shot, she wanted to at least _get_ something, not come back empty-handed, especially since they were moving in less than a week.

"Great job, Kez'!" a neighborhood kid cackled, "You're _never_ good at these sorts of things!"

()()()()()()()()()()

Kezoa flopped face first onto her mattress. She was going to help her mother help put the leftovers of their potluck in the fridge, but Kezoa wanted to lay down for a while first. Flipping onto her back, she looked up at the ceiling and watched her overhead fan spin slowly around, circulating the air. She sighed and looked around. The walls were bare and empty, though they were never full beyond family pictures in the first place. She had learned a while ago after their third move that it was better not to put up anything or paint the walls because odds were she wasn't going to be there for long. Cardboard boxes were stacked in the corner. She had yet to pack up her clothes, other personal effects, and her bedding. They may have been going to move in less than a week, but she had been advised and had also taught herself from experience to wait until the day before the big move to deposit all of her clothes into the boxes.

_A little sad, though,_ Kezoa thought as she scanned her walls again, _that I haven't got posters, like other teens do. It's just too much hassle._

Kezoa turned her head back to her roof, making out patterns in the design, _maybe when I turn eighteen and finally move out I'll begin to put down som roots. Make some new friends, perhaps even stay in the same city for over a year for once._ The idea sounded prospective.

As Kezoa lay there, she saw something flit around out of the corner of her eye, something like a shadow, but when she turned to look nothing was there. Kezoa sat up and scanned her room and walls. There was a dresser in the right corner, by the door that had a large mirror standing on top of it, but she didn't see it there. Whatever Kezoa had just seen had disappeared. She rolled off of her bed and landed at the side, taking the edges of the covers in her hand and slowly began to raise it up, expecting Freddy Krueger or some psychopathic clown to come lunging out of the darkness, shrieking. But when she leaned over to stare into the tiny crack that she had made between her covers and the floor, she saw what was in the darkness…

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Kezoa frowned and started to look around her room again when she suddenly heard a knock at the door. She jumped ten feet in the air and the door opened to reveal her mother.

"Hi!" she grinned, seeing Kezoa's frightened expression she looked around her daughter's room, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." she lied, grinning, still looking around her room for whatever had snuck around it.

Meanwhile, Mom's expression darkened, "Kezoa, you're not hiding anything in here, are you?"

"What?" she cried, "_pfft_, no! You know me better than that don't you?"

Mom cocked an eyebrow at her, "I can tell when you're hiding something from me…"

"I know, Mom." Kezoa rolled my eyes, "You've told me a thousand times."

"Oh, really now?" Mom leaned against the door frame and cocked her hip, placing a curled fist on it, "And when have I ever told you that?"

"Ever since I was a little kid." Kezoa smiled at her, shrugging.

"Alright, fine. So I did tell you that." Mom chuckled, "But if you are hiding anything in here, I will _not_ be pleased." Mom waggled her finger at Kezoa as she receded away from the door and began to head down the hallway, "Besides, dinner's ready."

"Okay!" Kezoa waved back, "I'll be down in a minute!"

Mom halted in her tracks and glared at her daughter again, she looked around her room yet again before she slowly backed away, closing the door behind her. Kezoa kept on waving as she did so, hoping she didn't suspect anything.

When Mom closed the door and the lock clicked behind her, Kezoa dove under her bed and cleared away all the dust bunnies, searching for whatever had hidden there. But yet again, she found nothing. Kezoa wriggled out from under her bed and sat down on her knees; she scratched her head and scrutinized her room again. _What was that_? Kezoa wondered to herself. She got to her feet and looked around again, making sure that whatever she had seen wasn't just her imagination.

Kezoa smiled to herself and turned towards the door, when she felt a chill go across her shoulder and she froze.

The room began to drop in temperature, Kezoa grabbed her arms and started to shiver, she began to see her breath puff into the cold air. Kezoa's eyes rotated in their sockets, trying to realize or see whatever had caused the sudden chill in the room. She felt something hot on her back, like someone was staring at her hard from behind.

Kezoa forced her body to move and whirled around to whatever was staring at her, but nothing was there to be seen.

The temperature rose back to normal, so quickly it was almost a shock. Kezoa gulped and dared to look around the room again. And again, there was nothing. She sighed in relief and walked over to the door to join her family at dinner, when out of the corner of her eye she saw a glint in her dresser drawer's mirror. Instinctively, her head turned to the mirror see what was there. When she saw what was behind her, Kezoa's heart almost stopped.

A large, man-shaped shadow stood there.

His details were rough, like black paint was splotched onto the wall in the attempt to create a man. Red eyes gleamed at her—or the mirror—like red fireflies. Kezoa didn't even turn to look.

She pulled open the door and tore out of the room, booked it down the hallway, and barreled down the stairs as fast as she could. She raced across the living room and slipped on the floor to enter the kitchen. Mom jumped, Dad looked up from his laptop on the table, and Zeke—still holding a tissue to his nose—cackled loudly. Kezoa looked behind her to the stairwell to see if the ghost had followed her, which it had not. Kezoa breathed out and walked over to the table.

"Dear heavens, Kezoa!" Mom cried, "You looked like the devil was at your heels!"

"I think maybe he was…" Kezoa grumbled, she walked over to the fridge and began shoving items within out of the way to make room for the leftovers.

"You looked so funny!" Zeke crowed, "You should have seen your face!"

Kezoa snarled at him, walking over to the living room to pick up a dish of leftovers on the bookshelf by the door.

"Oh, don't do that, Kezoa." Dad scolded, digging back into his typing, "One day you'll need his help."

"Please." Kezoa shook her head, "Maybe when hell freezes over."

"That's not very nice, Kezoa." Mom scolded her.

Kezoa opened her mouth to reply back, but a loud thunderous CRACK! Cut her off.

As Kezoa's hands flew to cover her ears, the earth suddenly started to heave and swell. Dad was knocked off of his chair and Zeke ducked underneath the table, Mom falling into the depths of the kitchen. Frames and pottery fell off of their designated posts and clattered and crashed to the floor, Kezoa was hunched over on the floor with her hands covering the back of her skull. She heard another sound, like wood being pulled apart lengthwise.

Kezoa risked looking up and saw the roof crack, shatter, then finally collapse onto the kitchen table. Kezoa jumped back, but her parents and Zeke weren't so lucky, and the roof landed on top of them. Kezoa shouted and reached for them when something yanked her hard from the side. She flew to her right and landed hard against one of the living room's walls. Stars flew in front of her eyes as she tried to recover from the jarring slam.

As she did, something dark and large slid in front of her vision.

Kezoa shook her head violently to try and clear her hand, and when it did she wish it hadn't. Kezoa shrieked at the red eyes that glared at her, at the bipedal form covered in a black cloak that obscured his armor that shone black and red in the light with glimpses of silver muscle fibers in between the gaps in the joints, she saw his shadow writhe freely and travel across the ruined house and walls, leaving it black wherever it touched. Horrified, she recognized the dark man that she had seen in her mirror.

Kezoa opened her mouth to scream, but before she could let out a breath the shadow man cut her off:

"Quiet!" He barked, "Your screaming is useless!"

Kezoa moved to try and get away, but she found that she could not. She turned toward what was holding her to the wall and came face-to-face with a grotesque looking shadow. It looked up at her and grinned. Kezoa opened her mouth to scream again.

"DON'T!"

Kezoa's mouth shut with an audible _snap_.

"Listen to me:" the cloaked man began, "My name is Maltegere. I am a servant of Makuta Teridax, the master of shadows. He has a request for you, and you will obey it. You are to track down his brother, Mata Nui, and assist us in destroying him. Failure to accept will end in your death."

"Huh? What?" Kezoa quavered.

The cloaked man—Maltegere—growled lowly and shook his head in displeasure, "There is no time. I will not say it again," Maltegere extended his hand, "Accept the request or your doom."

"Hold on!" Kezoa tried desperately, "I don't want to die! But…but I can't track anyone! I came in last today at the neighborhood's yearly scavenger hunt! How am I going to be able to find this Mata Nui guy?!"

Maltegere shook his head again.

"Your feeble human form will not do this. But another form will…" Maltegere extended his hand and grabbed Kezoa's forearm faster than a snake striking, and his shadows holding her down dissipated. Kezoa felt tiny needles jab into her skin where Maltegere's hand laid, soon his touch burned like acid, and Kezoa shrieked in pain.

"Hush. It will all end soon. You are coming with me; to home!" Maltegere yelled in triumph, and in a brilliant flash, the world Kezoa knew had disappeared.

A second later, with Maltegere holding her arm tightly, Kezoa found herself flying through a bizarre space of melting and intertwining colors, it was like being inside of a cauldron filled to the brim with melted crayons. Kezoa's shrieks went from pain to fear as she flailed around.

"Stop moving!" Maltegere shouted, "Believe me, you don't want me to drop you! You could end up in a different part of the universe if I—!"

Maltegere's head snapped upward, as if he was looking at something. Kezoa followed his gaze and almost began screaming again.

From the sky, to great yellow eyes stared down at them.

"He's found us already!" Maltegere roared, he reached into his cloak and pulled out a large orb of what looked like shadows. It gave out wisps of the stuff and from within a pulsating purple core. Maltegere retracted his hand and tossed the ball with a mighty yell. It carried on for five seconds, as the ball itself drifted through the space towards the great yellow eyes, and then Kezoa heard an impact sound.

"That did it!" Maltegere stated proudly. But the great yellow eyes didn't go away. They didn't even blink.

Matter of fact, they grew brighter.

A shockwave grew from the eyes; they cascaded in an outward circular motion across the bizarre space and came at an alarming speed towards Kezoa and her kidnapper.

Maltegere's confidence was visibly shattered, and he threw an arm in front of his face as he swore. A mighty blast of wind caught Kezoa and—needless to say—Maltegere off-guard. His grip slipped off of her forearm and Kezoa shrieked as she found herself tumbling through this bizarre world, blood from the pin-needle wounds painting the air behind her.

Kezoa heard a bizarre pop, and everything went silent and black. She couldn't even hear herself screaming, though she could feel the air whistling through her throat.

CRACK!

Abruptly, her vision and her hearing came crashing back to her as she landed on what felt like solid ground. Colors flooded into her brain and a deep voice was speaking to her in garbled speech, Kezoa shrieked and fell on her back, her hands clapped over her ears and she squeezed her eyes shut, but to no avail.

Kezoa curled into a fetal position on her side as sweat broke out from her body. Maltegere's venom pulsated through her body, her head felt like it was going to split open, or that someone was trying to do that already with a cleaver. This was beyond _any_ hell her face had put her through this past month. Her eyes wide, Kezoa's eyes darted around as she tried to comprehend what she was seeing. Everything looked so foreign to her.

She was deep inside a jungle. The trees were gnarled and twisted in ways that they did not look like she was in the rainforest; the foliage didn't even look organic! To make matters worse, she could see large silhouettes creeping in and out of the foreground and large, luminescent eyes gleaming at her from the shadows.

Kezoa felt utter fear.

"Where am I…?" she squeaked, she whipped her head from side to side so much that she thought she would get whiplash.

"Where am I? Where am I?" Kezoa scooted backward into a tree. She clasped her arms around her shoulders, warm liquid flooded over them. Kezoa squeaked and her hands flew to her face. They were obscured in blood.

"What's going on?" Kezoa cried, "What's happening? Mom! Dad! _Someone_! _Anyone_! **HELP ME**!"

Kezoa felt her skin suddenly split open, and things seemed to go quiet again. Red veins flashed in front of her vision as her flesh literally exploded off of her skeleton. Kezoa did the only thing anyone would do if that happened to them.

She screamed.

()()()()()()()()()()

"Hey, Takanuva...did you quick-hear that?"

Takanuva looked up from his book to see Lewa—his brother of Air—gazing intently over the lookout patio of the coliseum toward the forest of Le-Koro. Takanuva rolled his scroll back to closed and looked over to where Lewa was staring. The Toa had stayed behind with the Turaga while they were gathering up the last of the artifacts and belongings, and Takanuva had found a scroll on ancient relics and, still having that Chronicler habit of his, decided to take a break and began to read through it. Takanuva joined Lewa in his sightseeing and scanned his glowing red eyes over the forest, the setting suns set his golden armor and mask aflame and turning the sky orange.

"Hear what, brother?" asked Takanuva.

"That sound…it sounded like someone cry-screaming…" Lewa said.

"From Le-Koro?"

Lewa turned to Takanuva and nodded rapidly, to which Takanuva responded by shaking his head.

"It can't be. We made sure all the Matoran were evacuated. Who could be still here?"

"We could wind-fly speedy-quick and be back before our Toa-brothers know we're gone-missing." Lewa suggested.

Takanuva hesitated, but he thought it over and wondered if it really was a Matoran. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to be on the safe side and go check…

"Alright, let's go and see."

()()()()()()()()()()

Kezoa was paralyzed, the only action she could do was gasp for oxygen and blink as rapidly as she could.

_It's just a dream_, she thought, trying to reassure herself, _it's just a dream_,_ it's just a dream_..._it's just...a dream_…

Tears began to roll down Kezoa's face, but she felt completely numb and she barely knew the tears were there. Kezoa felt like she had been just struck by lightning and the electric currents were still coursing through her body, she couldn't scream for help, her throat was raw after she screamed and she came up in a bloody racking cough after she was finished.

"Someone…" Kezoa whispered.

"Lewa! Down there!"

Kezoa tried to get up but pain lanced through her body and all she could do was emit a hoarse cry and fall back against the tree, her vision was starting to cloud over and her head was swimming. _I…think I'm going to pass out_…Kezoa felt a vibration and heard a _THUCK_ as if something just fell from the sky. Kezoa barely saw the silhouette of the figure of a man land in front of her and run toward her. Another one soon joined him.

"Hey, are you alright?" screamed the first figure. He fell to his knees in the pool of her blood and grabbed her shoulders.

"H-help me…" Kezoa whimpered, rasping. She tried to move her hands, but they refused to comply. "It hurts…it hurts—"

Kezoa suddenly let loose with more blood via her mouth and it splashed onto the brown dirt, feeding the tree that she leaned against. By this point she knew that she lost too much blood, she slumped back into the tree.

"Hey! HEY!" the first figure cried.

"Don't go fall-dying on us!" the second one yelled. The first one scooped her up in his arms and began to sprint.

"Brother, wait!" the second figure cried, however his voice just carried with no reply.

"Just hang on, sister," the first figure yelled over the howling wind, "don't go yet!"

_Sister_…? Kezoa thought distantly, _what does he mean by sister_…?

With that, she submitted to her subconscious.

* * *

AN: Okay, it's been a _loooooong_ time since I've written this story (no exaggerations) and I felt so bad about that I decided to restart it! But it's been at least four years…when I re-read the story to come to grips on where I was at, I was like: "_ACK! Holy cow! I can't believe I wrote that! Why'd I put a comma there?! What was I thinking?_!"

So, I decided that the best thing to do was rewrite it [partially]!

That's what I did. I came up with a brand new opening sequence, took the white-out and erased some parts, edited the grammar and spelling and pacing, and voila! We have a newly edited story fresh and ready for the print out! (Thank heaven for Word…)

For a time, I considered changing Kezoa's full name to something a little more practical and human (it was supposed to be Cathy Sullivan), but after making the name change and reading through it again, it just didn't fit. Besides, I realized if I changed the name of the main heroine it made it sound completely different and unrecognizable by already following readers. Plus, "Toa Cathy" just didn't have a ring to it like "Toa Kezoa" did ;). So I switched back to Kezoa and just decided to have her "forget" her own last name.

See you next time!


	2. Struggle! To Trust or Not To Trust?

Disclaimer: I do not own Bionicle, or its parent company Lego. This story was created for the entertainment of the writer and the readers and does not reflect anything on Bionicle, Lego, or any of its affiliates.

* * *

The door to Turaga Nokama's study slammed open, causing her to jump and turn her gaze from the catalogues she was reading to see Toa Takanuva carrying a bloodied purple and orange unconscious Toa, hanging limp in his arms as if she were dead. Takanuva was panting hard, as if he had been running, and blood stained his golden chest armor and his hands and arms.

"Mata Nui!" Nokama cried, she jumped down from her chair and nearly tumbled over before grabbing her cane, "What has happened here?" she demanded.

"Turaga, she needs help!" Takanuva cried, "She's on the brink of death! If we don't do something then she'll—"

"Calm down, panicking the worst thing you could do in this situation." Nokama said gently, she hobbled over to one of her tables in the middle of her study. It was steel protodermis, so the blood coming off of the female Toa's body could be washed off easily.

Nokama cleared off the maps and the other catalogues she had stacked upon it just before Takanuva walked quickly over to the table and placed the injured Toa on it. Takanuva took a few steps back as Nokama examined the female.

"Hmm…" she muttered, "there are no puncture wounds or any signals of a traumatic fight, and she appears to be in remarkable health beneath all the blood…"

Takanuva waited there for five minutes in a tense posture—shoulders squared, arms firmly crossed, and muscles tense and rocking back and forth on his heels—before Nokama finally revealed her analysis.

"I can't be sure what happened. There is barely some evidence to tell that she was in a fight, however it looks like she's had a pretty bad concussion, so I can't be sure she'll be able to recall what has happened to her." Nokama claimed.

"But will she live?" Takanuva asked.

"Yes. She will live." Nokama answered.

Takanuva breathed a sigh of relief and he visibly relaxed. Nokama motioned to the female Toa, "Follow me to the hospital wing, take her with you…"

()()()()()()()()()()

Lewa arrived at the coliseum just barely a few minutes after Takanuva did. Lewa sheathed his swords and ran into the coliseum. He had thought to himself that the first thing Takanuva would have done was take the newly found female Toa to Turaga Nokama, but when he checked her office, the only thing that hinted they were there was blood on the steel protodermis table, no doubt from the female Toa.

So, Lewa did the next thing on his checklist and dashed to the hospital wing, there he found Takanuva lingering anxiously in the waiting room.

"How is she?" asked Lewa, Takanuva jumped when Lewa suddenly appeared next to him.

"Nokama says that she'll live." said Takanuva, "She's in pretty good condition and there are no wounds to speak of, so I'm wondering where all that blood came from…"

"That's mighty-fine." said Lewa, "She'll quick-live. That's all that worry-matters."

"Have our brothers returned yet?" asked Takanuva.

"No. I guess they're still with the Turaga rounding up whoever or whatever's left." Lewa reported. The two stood side-by-side for a period of time, before speaking up again.

"So, do you think she belongs to a team?" asked Lewa.

"I'm not entirely certain. She had a concussion, so she might not even remember." Takanuva said, "If that is the case, I wonder if she'll even recall _who_ she even is…"

"But what if that's not the problem-case?"

"Well, it would save us a great deal of effort to try and re-name her, that's for sure." Takanuva said.

"HEY! WHERE IS EVERYONE?"

Both Lewa and Takanuva jumped to the ceiling when Pohatu's voice boomed through the coliseum.

"Up here, the hospital wing!" Takanuva called as he and Lewa tried to get their breath back. Seconds later Pohatu himself appeared.

"Hey, brothers!" Pohatu boomed, slapping both Takanuva and Lewa on their backs, which caused them to try yet again to breathe.

"Nice to see you too, brother…" Lewa panted. Not long after, the rest of the group as well as the other five Turaga—Vakama, Matau, Nuju, Onewa, and Whenua—came into sight.

"What's going on?" asked Kopaka, his red eye-scope magnifying then zooming back out. "We checked Turaga Nokama's quarters and there was blood…"

"We found a Toa-sister." said Lewa, "If we hadn't had appear-interfered, she would have meet-gone to Mata Nui."

"_Another_ new Toa?" Tahu asked, half-groaning.

"Here?" Gali added.

()()()()()()()()()

Kezoa groaned and she struggled to open her eyes, her vision blurred into view and she stared up at the ceiling of some sort of hospital. Kezoa started when someone touched her shoulder, she jumped to a sitting position and whipped her head around and confronted what looked like a small, four-foot-three-inch lavender colored robot. Its face was covered in a kind of mask that looked like a traditional shape but arranged upside down, her glowing red eyes were round and circular—almost friendly. Its mouth was gone, but in its place there was a circular mouthpiece of some kind that looked like the cover for a ventilation shaft. Its body was small and hunched over, clothed in a type of blue cloak that obscured its back and held a staff in its right hand, with the other upon Kezoa's shoulder.

Kezoa suddenly remembered the shadow-clad robot that had kidnapped her.

She screamed and pushed away from the robot, which mirrored her actions. Kezoa toppled off of a table and landed hard on her side. She clutched the newly bruised region and shuffled over to the nearest wall to keep away from the robot, pressing her body in to the wall as hard as she could without hurting herself. It recovered and maneuvered around the table.

"Relax!" the female-sounding robot tried to soothe, she held out her hands, extending her palms towards Kezoa, "You are among friends!"

"Shut up!" Kezoa screamed, "You're just like him! Or you work for him! You can't fool me!"

"What? Like who—?" the robot stepped forward, her palms still held outward.

"Stay away from me!" Kezoa, acting as desperate as a caged lion, threw herself into the wall and hit her head hard. She crumpled to the ground and moaned in pain.

"You shouldn't move so fast…" the robot said, she hobbled over and placed a surprisingly large hand on Kezoa's back, "you just recovered from a concussion. You could damage yourself even further."

"Concussion? What—?" Kezoa lifted up her hand to soothe her aching head, but stopped dead when she saw her hand.

It was clad in some type of purple armor.

"Wh-what is this…?" Kezoa gasped, she lifted her other hand to her face, it was hard to the touch and was shocked to discover that she had no nose, that section of her face was flattened against the other contours of her face, she was happy to find she still had her mouth but instead of a tongue there was nothing and if she stuck her hand back far enough she felt a pipe-like object—she assumed was her vocal cords—that convulsed and moved when she talked, "What's happened to me?"

Kezoa looked down at her body and felt like she was punched in the gut. Her entire body was now robotic. Encased in mauve armor with orange accents from the top of her mask to the tips of her feet. The joints were easily evident; ball and socket, totally black and gleamed like it was some kind of soft plastic but harder than rock. The muscle that was evident through aesthetic gaps in the armor was dark grey and looked like cable more than organic tissue. Kezoa experimentally told her arm to move while her eyes were glued upon the gaps: the "muscles" seemed to visibly tighten before the action took place.

"This can't be!" Kezoa rasped, staring at her trembling hands, "This can't be!"

"It's alright," The robot tried, "you needn't—AH!"

Kezoa suddenly bolted, rocketing out of the door.

"Stop her! She's lost her mind!" the robot yelled.

()()()()()()()()()

The door suddenly burst open and the purple and orange Toa dashed out. Takanuva jumped out of the way and the Toa did a sharp turn down the corridor.

"Stop her! She's lost her mind!" Nokama cried, "She might hurt herself!"

All the Toa took off, tracking the female Toa to the double-stairway leading to the exit of the coliseum where Onua had somehow managed to catch her before she got any farther down the stairs. Onua grabbed the purple Toa's shoulders, trying to prevent her from going any farther.

"It's alright! We're not going to hurt you!" Onua tried to tell her, but she either didn't hear or didn't care and threw a punch at Onua, which hit his lower jaw and he went hurtling back a few steps, Pohatu and Takanuva ran to assist him.

"Leave me alone!" the Toa yelled, she back away from the group, failing to notice Lewa, Tahu, Kopaka, and Gali running down the other side of the stairs to corner her. "You're just like him! You're all just like him!"

The Toa whirled around to try and run away but instantly retreated to the wall when she saw the other four Toa.

"It's alright," Gali murmured, "you're among friends. No one's going to hurt you…"

"She might hurt _us_ first…" Onua grumbled, rubbing his lower jaw as he staggered to his feet.

The purple Toa's wide-eyed stare switched from the three Toa to the other four surrounding her, clutching her shoulders as she tried to merge into the wall. She suddenly burst into tears and sank to the floor. She buried her head into her thighs and wrapped her arms around her shins.

"This can't be true…It's a dream! It's all a bad dream!" she sobbed.

"It's as real as it can get." Kopaka said bluntly.

"Kopaka, you're not helping!" Gali hissed, glaring at him. Kopaka held his hands up and backed away a few steps.

"It's not true…it can't be! If it is then…" the distressed Toa moaned, she struggled to catch her breath, "then…my family…my family…! I don't even know what happened to them!"

She didn't speak again, for she broke out into wailing sobs and wouldn't stop. The Toa Nuva lifted their gazes off of the upset female and just shared stares with each other. They could only imagine the grief the amethyst Toa must feel, for they did not know what it felt to loose even _one_ of them, though they had gotten pretty close on more than one occasion. Takanuva stepped forward and kneeled on one knee in front of her. He snuck his hand between the side of her mask and her arm and lifted up her chin and gazed into her orange colored eyes, which reflected his image in liquid as she shook.

As soon as she made eye-contact with Takanuva, she threw up her hands and violently pushed him away.

"NO!" she screamed, "Get away from me!"

"We only want to help." Takanuva said, trying to approach her again, "We don't know what you feel, but if there's any way we can help, we want you to tell us."

"Yeah!" Lewa spoke up cheerfully, "We Toa-brothers are connected, and we're all practically join-bonded together!"

The crowd murmured with concurrences. They failed to notice the Turaga were watching from the top of the stairwell.

"You're all liars!" the Toa cried, she tried to curl into a tighter ball, "You all look just like him! You're trying to lull me into a false sense of security! Well, it's not going to work!"

"'Him'?" Kopaka asked, "Who's 'him'?"

"_Him_!" the Toa hissed, "The man who kidnapped me! The man who used his shadows to rip apart my home! You all look just like him, you all work for him! Well, I'm not going to track whoever it is you want me to track down! So stop wasting your time!"

The Toa looked up at each other again. After Takanuva had used Makuta's body to open the doorway to reveal Metru Nui, they had been smashed underneath it and Makuta himself had disappeared. It could very well have been the Dark One himself who had done this to the terrified Toa. Plus, there was the Makuta's Order as well to worry about, which seemed to function quite well despite the absence of their leader. But what—or who, rather—were they searching for?

"We don't want you to track anything or anyone down." Takanuva tried to assure her, kneeling by her side again, "We are not in league with whoever you think we are."

"You can say that again." Pohatu agreed.

The mauve-colored Toa looked down and didn't return Takanuva's gaze until he lifted up her chin again.

"I'm Takanuva." he said, "What's your name?"

She stared at him for a moment, and then whispered something.

"What?"

"Kezoa." she said, "My name is Kezoa."

* * *

AN: Really not much changes. What did you think about it? Comments are very welcome!

Anime-Mecha Fan (until next time) is signing off!


	3. Zeke's Story! Where Has Kezoa Gone?

Disclaimer: I do not own Bionicle, or its parent company Lego. This story was created for the entertainment of the writer and the readers and does not reflect anything on Bionicle, Lego, or any of its affiliates. I do own Kezoa, Zeke, their family, and the plot.

* * *

Zeke didn't remember much, but he remembered waking up to find himself under a pile of what was left of the house's roof. Seeing an opening he pushed his hand and his head through it. The ground was shaking…Zeke was struggling to keep his balance, even while he was on his stomach and trying to wriggle through the debris. The family living room was completely desolate; furniture was smashed, shredded, or flung to different areas of the room. The support that held up the ceiling were now littered all over the floor, the drywall was eradicated and torn off of the wood and the pink insulation foam.

Zeke looked around and saw Kezoa; she was backed up against the wall, with a man standing in front of her. He had a cloak around his body, and it seemed to meld into the shadows that slithered and crept across the rubble of the house and cemented Kezoa against the wall. The shadow man was reaching down to her and talking to her as she tried to run away.

"Kezoa…?" Zeke rasped, he struggled against the boards holding him down, but the pressure would not let up.

The shadow man reached down and grabbed Kezoa's arm, she howled in an unseen agony.

"Kezoa!" Zeke cried, a little louder this time. He strained until a bright light flashed violently into his now ruined home. Zeke cried out and lifted his arm to shield his eyes. When the light died down, he slowly opened his eyes, he found that the earthquake had stopped, sirens were wailing outside and there were brief glimpses of crimson and blue light. Zeke also discovered that Kezoa and the shadow-person were gone.

"Kezoa?" Zeke yelled into the empty air. There was no reply.

She was gone.

"KEZOA!"

With a thundering crash, the door—still upon its hinges, miraculously—was kicked down by a SWAT officer.

()()()()()

"Are you sure that's what happened?" asked the investigator.

Zeke sniffled and wrapped the emergency blanket tighter around his body. When he was dug out of the rubble, it was late at night. Zeke made it through the entire ordeal with several heavy bruises and a black eye, but it didn't matter to him because now he was alone. His mom and dad were barely alive, and his sister was missing. Zeke had just finished telling the police what had happened, but the investigator who was interviewing him still had the skeptical look on his face.

"Yeah." Zeke answered.

The investigator looked down at his note pad, he sighed deeply, "Alright, listen, kid." he said, "We know you've gone through a tough time, and it's perfectly understandable that you'd be going through this phase, however, we need all the details you can give us in order to find your sister."

"I already told you what happened!" Zeke insisted.

The investigator sighed again, "Sorry, kid, but a shadow-man appearing out of the floor then destroying your house and kidnapping your sister doesn't even sound _remotely_ plausible. Until you give us something that we can go on—like a feasible description—we can't do anything to even _start_ finding your sister."

Zeke kept his eyes from watering again. Until his mom and dad woke up, then Zeke would be alone living with his grandparents, and the worst part was that the police weren't even going to start trying to find his sister.

_Kezoa_, _where are you_? Zeke thought mournfully.

* * *

AN: Oh, changes, changes, changes, changes…well isn't it the changes to a story that show a creative, open mind?

A new chapter's next, so stay tuned!


	4. The New Toa! A Mysterious Glow?

CHAPTER FOUR:

THE NEW TOA! A MYSTERIOUS GLOW?

Disclaimer: I do not own Bionicle, or its parent company. This story was created for the entertainment of the writer and the readers and does not reflect anything on Bionicle, Lego, or any of its affiliates. I own Kezoa and the story.

AN: So sorry I take so long to update! :(

* * *

_How did I get here…?_ Kezoa thought as she looked around the vast blue sky above her. This world was so different from hers;_ two_ suns burned in the sky, but it felt as warm as a pleasant spring day would on Earth, despite the surplus source of heat. Kezoa couldn't see a single cloud in the sky, and even as a light breeze kicked up she saw no puff of white sky cotton anywhere in the heavens. Kezoa looked behind her at Turaga Matau, sitting in the middle of the boat, and Toa Nuva Onua busily pumping the oar to propel the canoe forward. He was so focused on his task and the destination ahead—a silhouette of the towers upon the island Metru Nui—that he didn't even realize she was staring at him. Kezoa turned back and matched her pace and strength with Onua's, or at least as close as she could get it as they propelled forward toward Metru Nui, with the rest of the Nuva either ahead or behind with the Turaga riding in the canoes as Turaga Matau did in hers. As of now, she was officially Toa Nuva.

_How did_ that_ happen…?_ Kezoa found her head slightly shaking, as if her mind was still trying to wave away the disbelief that hung over her head like a veil of spider silk.

_Okay, Kezoa, let's think back to how this happened…_

()()()()()()()

It had taken a while for Kezoa to calm down enough so that she wasn't brutally shaking, but she still trembled. She still was scared of all the robots around her — reasonably —, but the Takanuva and green one's voice were familiar, so she felt a little bit safer around them. The white one looked very cold, so Kezoa decided to stay away from him; she figured she could trust the blue, brown and black ones. She apologized to the black one (Toa Onua, as she knew now) for hitting him, but he just laughed and rubbed his jaw.

"I guess I sorta had it comin' anyway…" he said.

Kezoa rubbed her arms, trying to chase out the coldness she felt inside. Her family was _dead_. Or maybe not, but how would Kezoa know that? Despite her circumstances Kezoa curled tighter into a fetal position to try and conceal her fear. The one called Takanuva placed a hand on her shoulder in a firm hold and squeezed it, as if to try and assure her that it would be fine.

"You already know me," he said, "Gali is in the blue, Tahu is next to her, and Kopaka behind those two may seem cold at first, but he's a good friend." Gali and Tahu nodded at her when their names were said.

Takanuva turned to the other two, "That's Onua, the one you just hit, and Pohatu is standing next to him. We're the Toa Nuva."

"What Toa-Team are you from?" Lewa asked brightly with a smile on his face.

Kezoa furrowed her brows—or did the motion, at least—at Lewa's question.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

The expression of the Toa changed to confused, they turned to look at one another. Out of her left peripheral vision, she saw a red object hobble up to her. Kezoa yelped in surprise and ducked in the opposite direction before she saw that the red object wasn't really an object at all: rather, it was a person—perhaps—about half the height of the Toa, hunched over with a glowing staff and red armor, with this shape he gave off the impression of an elderly person. Both he and Takanuva jumped back at her squeal of surprise, but they both recovered quickly.

"I apologize." The red senior extended his hand and placed it on her wrist, chuckling nervously. His voice was quivery, but in such a way that it reminded of Kezoa of her own grandfather and soothed her in such a way that she relaxed at his touch rather than shrink away, "I didn't think you didn't see me approach. I am Vakama, a Turaga. I used to be a Toa, but I am no longer."

Looking behind him, Kezoa saw five other elders behind Turaga Vakama. Among the five was the blue Turaga that Kezoa had first met.

Seeing her gaze, Vakama turned behind him and caught sight of the other five.

"Ah! Those five are my fellow Turaga. We were once the Toa Metru. Here are the Turagas Whenua, Onewa, Matau, and Nuju. You already know Nokama; she was the one that treated you." Vakama listed each of his comrades in order from the closest to him to the farthest. When he was done introducing them, Turaga Nokama stepped forward.

Kezoa smiled sheepishly.

"I'm sorry for my behavior. I just…well, I didn't know you were one of the good guys."

"That's quite alright." Nokama smiled back, "After hearing your reason, it was logical that you would naturally distrust us at first."

The other Turaga murmured and nodded in agreement.

"Are you not part of a Toa team?" Kopaka questioned.

Kezoa shook her head.

"Well, of course she's not." The one called Pohatu piped from the back, "She just said she had no idea what happened to her team after one of the Makuta destroyed her home. Wouldn't it be safe to assume she has no team as of now?"

"That would be a safe course of action." Gali nodded.

"Doesn't change the fact that now we don't know what to do with her now." Tahu muttered.

"Well, she has no island-home. Why not give her a new-fresh one?" Lewa suggested.

The Toa turned to him.

"Are you implying here, Lewa?" Pohatu pointed to the ground at his feet, as if to make a point.

Lewa nodded.

"I don't see why not." Onua shrugged.

"Well, then, it's settled!" Takanuva got to his feet and offered a hand out to Kezoa. She paused for a moment, staring at it. Then she silently inhaled as deep as she could, and on her exhale she released all her doubts and grabbed his hand, allowing him to pull her to her feet, "Welcome to the Toa Nuva!"

"Yes! As of now, you are Toa Kezoa of the Nuva!" Pohatu boomed, "Hey, that's got a nice ring to it!"

()()()()()()()

Kezoa shook her head again. It still didn't make any logical sense.

"Are you fine-well Kezoa?"

Kezoa looked behind her at Turaga Matau, who had placed a hand on Kezoa. He spoke like Lewa did, always adding like-words together and speaking slightly quicker than normal, despite his sage-like tone of voice and demeanor, the clashes of which always brought a smile to her face. Needless to say, at least the smile was legitimate.

"Oh, I'm fine. Just a…little tired."

Matau's hand lingered where it was, and for a moment Kezoa feared that he knew the she was lying to him. But instead he nodded slowly and retracted his hand away from her back.

"Hey, am I going to have to drive this thing by myself or what?" Onua demanded, trying in vain to plot his course in a straight line. The feat was near impossible when you only had one person using a one-sided oar to pilot. Kezoa found the canoe that they were in was slowly going around in a circle.

"Oops! Sorry!" Kezoa hurriedly stabbed her oar back into the sea and paddled as hard as she could to get her and Onua back on track. The island ahead of them slowly got closer, and the details gradually got clearer to reveal buildings with slightly warped and jagged features, as if they had started to decay a long time ago and were already well underway. The only building that seemed to remain solidly intact from a distance was an enormous tower with four large spires that extended towards the two suns above them.

"Turaga Matau…?" Kezoa heard him grunt from behind her, indicating that he was listening, "what's that huge building? The one with the points?"

"Oh! That's the Coliseum." He answered, "It's the single-most large building in all of Metru Nui. I'm shock-surprised it's still tall-standing. Although, seeing as it was built for long-times, it isn't a strange-question that it would be."

"It's where all the Matoran would have gathered." Onua added, "Odds are they would either be inside or at the foot of the Coliseum."

Kezoa looked behind her at Onua, then back at the Coliseum. "Onua, aren't you guys the protectors of the Matoran?"

"What else would we be?"

"Well, wouldn't it be a little dangerous to leave them alone like that? You know, _all_ alone?"

"You speak like they are Rahi newborns." Onua chuckled, "The Makuta was defeated quite recently. With him gone, there's no possible way that the Matoran would be in danger. After all, all of the threats that had been presented to them had just now been defeated!"

Kezoa thought about Maltegere and furrowed her eye brows/ridges together (since that's all that she could do). She left the matter alone and instead continued to paddle forward, some distance away Tahu, Kopaka, and Turaga Nuju thrust forward of Kezoa's canoe with such a look of determination it almost made her laugh. She looked behind her at Gali, Takanuva, and Pohatu with the rest of the Turaga in their larger canoe. From the looks of things, the three Toa were pleasantly chatting amongst themselves and the Turaga, Pohatu's sonorous laughter occasionally resonating across the Protodermis waves, Toa Lewa hovered a few feet above them, sometimes coming down a ways to join in the conversations they were having.

The uncertainty on Kezoa eased up a little. Though she didn't know them very well, she felt in her heart that their intentions were true to her, each other, the Turaga, and the Matoran. They seemed to operate like a family, and with a family it was very rare that you would go wrong.

By the time they had reached Metru Nui, Kezoa's arms hurt so much she felt like they would fall off. Although, considering that her body underwent a completely strange metamorphosis she was sure that nothing would surprise her. Except when she stepped out of her canoe, she nearly made a fool out of herself by face-planting into the hexagon stone panels, the shore of Le-Metru, due to her sleeping legs. As she got re-accustomed to the new gravity of the land, she looked around and found the entire Metru in an utter mess.

"Wow…" Kezoa breathed, "if all of the cities are in this big a state of decay, we've got our work cut out for us…"

"Hmm?" Onua looked up from pulling the canoe onshore, "Oh, no; this is just how Le-Metru normally looks. Right, Turaga Matau?"

Onua and Kezoa turned toward the Turaga, who was already hobbling towards the city, muttering "No place like home…no place…"

Kezoa smiled and turned to Onua. He had managed to get the canoe halfway out of the water, and was now attempting to tie it to a post to keep it from drifting off.

His large clunky hands, however, made it difficult to do so.

"Here," Kezoa offered, kneeling down beside him and gently taking the rope from his grasp, "let me. I know how to tie this kind of knot."

"You do?" Onua asked, sounding bemused, "how?"

"I lived three years in Los Angeles. It's a city by the ocean, so I had to learn how to tie a sailor-knot to keep a boat from drifting off."

"Los Angeles?" Onua sounded in total awe, "That sounds like quite a city! What's the name of the Island?"

Kezoa froze. Slip of the tongue!

Mercifully, though, Pohatu called Onua over to help him get the larger canoe onto shore and Onua answered the call. Kezoa blew out a sigh of relief and got back to work on the sailors knot.

A loud _swoop_ from above caught her attention and Kezoa looked up to see Toa Lewa soar over her head and sail beyond the group, obviously apparent that he was going to reach the Coliseum first. As his silhouette flew over her and receded, the full light of the two suns caught her eyes. Kezoa flinched and turned her attention back to tying the knot in the rope. The image registered in her mind, however, and she squint her new mechanical eyes and looked back up at the two suns. They stared back down at her unblinkingly. Of course they would; they were _suns_. But the way they looked…they way they were positioned so close to each other…made them look more like _eyes_…

"Kezoa?"

Kezoa shook herself free of her mind and whirled to see Turaga Vakama behind her.

"Yeah?" she asked, bewildered.

"Are you certain that you are fine?" he asked, "Is nothing coming back to where you lived or who your Toa Team was?"

"What?" Kezoa cocked her head, but after realizing what he was talking about she shook her head and went along with the ruse, "Oh, no. Nothing. Sorry…"

"Onua said that you remembered something of a city…was it…Los Angeles or other?"

Kezoa did the mental equivalent of slapping herself in the face.

"Ah…maybe I _did_…" Kezoa muttered, she lifted up her hand to scratch the back of her head in an attempt to look legitimately confused, "it's all still a haze…"

"Well, don't push yourself." Vakama offered, patting her shoulder, "We don't want you to hurt yourself beyond what can be repaired…remember at your own pace, and if you manage to evoke something don't hesitate to tell us. It could help us locate where you used to live and who your team was."

"Oh, thank you, Turaga." Kezoa smiled, hoping it didn't look crooked, "I'll try."

Vakama smiled and hobbled away back towards the group. Kezoa's hand moved from the back of her head to create a swiping motion across her forehead. "Phew!" She sighed, _crisis averted_!

Kezoa heard a humming sound, and suddenly the mask over her face started to vibrate.

"Wha—?" Kezoa cried out, as the Toa turned toward her, her vision blacked out.

"Yikes!" Kezoa shrieked, she clawed at her eyes to try and remove what was covering them, but found nothing there.

"Kezoa!" she heard Gali cry, "Are you alright?"

Suddenly, her senses cleared and Kezoa's vision came back in such a flood of light that she had to close her eyes to prevent herself from being blinded. But her vision did not look the same. It was covered in blue, and objects like the buildings were outlined in white. If that wasn't eerie enough, the buildings and trees emitted what looked like a faint yellow light, so small that she could barely catch on to the rays. Everything looked like she was seeing it in HD, the wires and vines that swayed in the slight breeze did so in such a way that it looked fake, too perfect to be true.

"Whoa…" Kezoa breathed, she looked down at her hands and found them swathed in shining bright golden light, turning her hands from the backs to her palms, studying every white outline, every ray and crisp detail that she could see. Thudding footsteps broke her attention away from her hands and towards the Toa. Their bodies flooded her vision with such a radiant light that it almost suffocated her.

"Whoa!" she cried out again, stumbling backwards.

"Kezoa, are you alright?" Takanuva demanded.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Kezoa assured, "It's just—you're all glowing!"

The Toa looked amongst each other then turned back to her while Pohatu shrugged.

"I'm serious!" Kezoa insisted, "You all are—!" a flicker caught her peripheral vision, she turned to her side and found a shadow—so dark it stood out like a sore thumb in the HD landscape—lunging towards her.

"WHOA!" Kezoa yelled, she curled her fingers into a fist and hurled it at the approaching shadow, she caught it in the face and it released a quick but faint shrill as her fist squashed it to the floor. Its body shattered into papery scraps and suddenly her vision went back to normal and she found her normal colored fist smashed against the hexagon paneled ground, which was starting to crack slightly under her pressure.

"Did you see that?" Pohatu boomed. Kezoa looked up to see the Toa had backed away from her slightly and Tahu was waving madly about his face like he had almost got stung by a bee. "She punched a shadow to the ground!"

Kezoa looked back at her fist. She pulled it away and flecks of debris sprinkled off of it. She flexed the tendons in her fingers and they formed a wave as she marveled how dull they looked without the golden light, despite the metallic purple sheen her armor was painted with. _What was that_…? She thought.

"How did you do that?"

"Huh?" Kezoa looked up to find Onua and Pohatu leaning over her.

"How did you punch that shadow? We didn't even see it until you pummeled it to the ground!" Onua cried.

"How did I…? I don't know…" Kezoa looked back down at her hands, "My mask just started to shake and my vision changed and suddenly I could see, like, a _glow_ on everything! Except for the shadow; it just looked like a black streak…"

"You think maybe that's her mask power?" Pohatu murmured as he and Onua leaned back until they were standing up straight once again.

"I'm more concerned about this shadow." Tahu cut in, he stalked towards Kezoa and almost forcibly pushed Onua out of the way as he came to her, "What did this shadow look like? Any certain shape or detail that you can remember?"

"What? What details could there be to a shadow? Ah, detail…detail…" Kezoa muttered, she tapped a finger to her chin and thought, "detail…detail…no, I don't think—wait! Wait! I know!"

She whirled around, "It was one of Maltegere's shadows!" she cried, "I'm sure of it! The shadow belonged to the man that kidnapped me and destroyed my home!"

"You're _joking_!" Tahu shrilled.

"The Matoran!" the other six Toa cried, Tahu took off and Kezoa surged to her feet and followed closely behind him as the rest of the Toa gathered the Turaga up and raced after them.

()()()()()()

Climbing the stairs of the Coliseum was like climbing Mount Everest in one day. When Tahu and Kezoa entered the Coliseum they both stupidly tried to use the elevator. Of course, after years of disuse there was no way that it would work, and so the two had to resort to primitive means and rocket up the stairs towards the arena, where Tahu said that the Matoran would be.

"It's the only place big enough to actually house all the Matoran in one spot!" he told her as they sprinted up the stairs. All Kezoa could do was nod as she tried to find a pattern that would work for her so that she wouldn't collapse halfway up to the Coliseum, which she found was very close to doing. Kezoa could hear the other Toa somewhere behind them as they (mainly Onua and Pohatu) thundered up the stairs. From above, Kezoa heard a loud crash. It sounded like a large body had impacted the floor above.

Tahu didn't say anything but his speed increased significantly and Kezoa found that her still unfamiliar body could not keep up with him, no matter how hard she tried. Kezoa didn't try to call him back; how could she expect a warrior fiercely devoted to his people to stop and come back for some outsider? Let alone an outsider that had brought this darkness to these peaceful people. For a moment, Kezoa was disheartened. Then she heard another loud crash followed by a shout. It was Tahu's. Adrenaline suddenly surged through her veins. She couldn't be discouraged now! Lives were in danger because of her! She brought the mess, and so she would fix it!

Kezoa uttered a mighty battle cry and sprang through the doors that opened into the wide arena. The first thing she saw was the statues. They were at least eighty feet in height and there were two in the arena; they stood tall and strong, unmarred by age or erosion. Behind the statues, a large belt of stair-like seats formed the outside rim of the Coliseum's edge, from where Kezoa was standing she guessed they were about five or six stories high, the wide stairs that could probably house the whole city of New York if the entire population shrank to about Matoran size.

Speaking of Matoran, Kezoa was surprised that she found none there.

"Wait, wha—?"

Suddenly, the doors slammed shut and locked behind her.

The wind was knocked out of her as something large and hard — perhaps a solid beach-ball — hammered her spine and she was tossed a good fifteen feet before she found herself barrel rolling across the hexagon panels. Kezoa rolled to a stop and she heaved and coughed, holding her hand against her chest as she tried to find her breath again. She glared about frantically, looking for whom or what had hit her. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

_What is going on_?

As Kezoa got to her feet, she suddenly heard clunky, deliberate footsteps approach her from behind, a little to her right. As Kezoa reeled around to face the enemy she saw nothing again, and yet the footsteps remained. Suddenly, the space in front of her warped and bended until it became a figure. Worst, it was Maltegere's figure.

"Oh, sh—!"

Maltegere backhanded her and she went sprawling on the Coliseum floor, Kezoa struggled to her hands and knees and cradled her cheek where Maltegere had contacted her. It hissed and the area burned as a faint steam rose from the new wound.

"So _this_ is where you were." Maltegere noted, "I was worried I had lost you in the space between our dimensions."

Kezoa hobbled to her feet, tried to put on a brave face, and positioned herself into a fighting stance.

"Where are the Matoran?" she demanded, "What did you do with Tahu?"

Maltegere looked around, and then he laughed. "I didn't do anything." He told her smugly, lifting up his arms as if showing her, "They are all here; can you not hear their cries of fear? Nor Tahu's groans of pain?"

"What?" Kezoa spun around wildly, "Tahu? Tahu!" she cried but to no response. In her haste, however, she had turned her back on Maltegere. She felt his large hand close on her neck from behind and Kezoa offered a shrill cry before she was choked off. Maltegere, with a firm grip on her neck, swiveled her around to face him.

"So…" he muttered disdainfully, "you have formed and alliance with the Toa already? Shame…but it can't be helped. Considering my master is still in need of your abilities, you will nonetheless accompany me. Not as a guest anymore, but rather as a prisoner of war."

Kezoa reached up and, as hard as she could, raked her fingertips across his eyes. Maltegere's howled in pain and released her, throwing her across the Coliseum. Kezoa tumbled thrice times before managing to get to her feet and skid across the rest of the momentum on her toes and her left hand. When she came to a stop, she looked up from the ground and judged the distance between her and the still howling Maltegere; he was about fifty feet away from her and still holding his hands to his injured eyes. She couldn't see any blood seeping between his fingers, but she would have at least temporarily blinded him to a point where she had an almost unfair advantage. Kezoa heaved to her feet and took off into a hard sprint, crossing the arena to Maltegere in under five seconds.

Just as she reached him and sprang to tackle him, Maltegere's hands left his face and he saw her approach. His eyes widened and his mask began to glow, then he suddenly disappeared. Kezoa shrieked in surprise, in mid-air, and she went toppling to the ground. Now she was alone again in the Coliseum. Kezoa got back to her feet and swiveled around sharply, searching for any sign of Maltegere. He was nowhere to be seen, but Kezoa knew he was here. _Where could he have gone_?

Kezoa received a hard shove to her chest and Kezoa sailed backward, this time she soared to the other side of the arena and she was slammed into its wall. Kezoa again lost her breath as gravity took a hold on her body and peeled her away from her imprint in the wall, landing flat onto the arena floor. Kezoa coughed and tried to get up again, but before she could even get to her knees she received a hard kick to her side. She didn't go flying this time, but she still curled into a fetal position and howled in pain as she clenched her hands around her newly bruised side.

"That was clever." She heard Maltegere from above, the space above her rippled and Maltegere's body appeared, blocking the two suns from behind him, "I don't think I've ever encountered a Toa before that has resorted to that tactic."

"You—!" Kezoa coughed, "How did you—? Where—?"

"Pretty useful, huh?" Maltegere grinned, he pointed to his mask, "This is the Kanohi Clocca; the Great Mask of Cloaking. Nothing like it has ever been made before."

Suddenly he disappeared again and the light from the suns blinded her. Kezoa struggled to her feet and weakly looked around again, though she knew that she could not see him from wherever he had gone.

"This mask can camouflage absolutely anything that I will it to!" Maltegere cackled from somewhere around her, "It's how I can do this—!" Kezoa was suddenly picked up by the neck and hammered into the floor. As her neck was crushed, she pumped her fists wildly at where she would have suspected Maltegere was. She kept on hearing and feeling impact, but Maltegere did not let up.

"Listen," Maltegere growled, his grip let up and whatever cloaked him ceased and Kezoa almost screamed when she found his face only an inch away from hers, his demon red eyes boring into her own. "I really don't want to arouse the ire of my master. He needs you alive, but you are making it _extremely_ difficult to keep my temper in check. If you come along with me quietly, I'll brush this off as the Toa implanting some false reality into your still impressionable mind. If not…" Kezoa choked as his grasp tightened quickly, so hard she felt like he could have popped her head clean off of her spine, "…you die here."

Now, normally, Kezoa was quite a wimp at times like these. Normally, she would cave under even the slightest strain. She was such a sucker for peer-pressure; she had tried a sip of beer one Saturday night at an underground party because everyone else was doing it and she didn't want to be left out (she, however, found she had an enormous — and dangerously close to allergic— reaction to beer and had promptly spit it out, vowing never to take such a drink again). If she had too much stress on her plate in her social, romantic, and/or school life she would collapse in her room and cry.

But the stresses of high school were nothing compared to having your throat in the hand of someone who could crush it like a twig.

If she was a human on Earth, or had Maltegere done this to her when he had first appeared to her in her house, Kezoa would have most definitely conceded. She would have burst into tears and begged Maltegere to spare her life, agreed to _anything_ he required of her, done _everything_ he would have asked of her, even would have become his _slave_ if it meant saving her life. But that was human Kezoa.

_Toa _Kezoa was a completely different animal.

Kezoa curled into as tight a ball as she could, bunching her knees close to her chest, taking her hands off of Maltegere's wrist and placing them palms down on either side of her head. Before Maltegere knew what was happening and before he cold react, Kezoa thrust her legs outward and now it was Maltegere who was sailing across the Coliseum arena. The forward momentum of her legs cascaded down her body and the force allied itself with the muscles in her arms and she pushed off of the arena's floor and sprang to her feet.

Maltegere got to his feet and was about to attack her again when a green streak came careening down from the sky. It was Lewa, who tackled Maltegere and literally hammered him to the ground.

Kezoa looked up to the stands and saw an enormous ripple cascade through them. It looked like a curtain had been lifted off and suddenly a crowd of small multi-colored beings was surging and screaming and stomping their feet in thrill and triumph. Kezoa stumbled back at the enormity of the crowd and the sheer volume of their excitement.

"Sister!" Lewa cried, sprinting toward her, "Are you in fine-health?"

"Yeah…" Kezoa coughed, "Just barely."

Kezoa forced her mind to come back to reality and she whirled around, searching for Tahu. She found him staggering to his feet a little ways away to her left. He was holding a spear in one hand while the other cradled the opposite shoulder — obviously injured when Maltegere had attacked him.

"Tahu!" she cried, she and Lewa raced toward him and on instinct Kezoa almost wrapped an arm underneath him to shoulder his weight, but at that instant Toa Kezoa receded to the subconscious and the shy human Kezoa came back into dominance, forcing her to stop, rewind slightly, and instead of offering him her arm she went to his injured shoulder and gingerly peeled away his fingers to asses the damage. There was a significant amount of blood, and in addition to that, the great gaping hole in his shoulder revealed the muscle fibers writhing and twisting around—a futile attempt to find each other—prodded an official medical examination.

"I'm _so_ sorry!" she cried, "I should have—!"

"Don't worry about it." Tahu waved her away and hastily pressed his fingers back to his wound, "You couldn't have seen it; Maltegere's mask is a new one, but it's strong. He's certainly a force to be reckoned with."

The Matoran cheered above them, whistling and howling their approval, Tahu looked up and around and Lewa turned to Kezoa with a smile on his face.

"Well, it appears you have won the heart-stones of the Matoran!" Lewa applauded, "Happy-congratulations!"

Kezoa turned away and grinned sheepishly; she felt heat rising to her cheeks but was not sure if she was actually blushing.

Abruptly, the applause of approval mutated into shrieks and screams of terror and warning.

Kezoa whirled around just as she saw Maltegere get to his feet and his mask glowing vibrantly.

"Kezoa!" Tahu cried, he surged forward and shoved her out of the way, "Watch out—!"

Tahu and Lewa were hurled backward into the wall, and they stuck there. She saw a squirming ripple of energy cascade over their bodies as they struggled to get free of whatever held them there. Maltegere turned his attention to the Matoran, his mask shone again and he threw his hand toward the sky. The same force that pinned Tahu and Lewa to the wall erupted from a center point in the sky and descended down onto the walls until it formed a force field that prevented the terrified Matoran from interfering from the stands, but allowed them all the sights of the battle that was unquestionably about to take place.

"So…" Maltegere growled, advancing menacingly toward her with a ball of rippling energy forming in his hands, "you want to fight dirty, huh? Fine then. But you had better be prepared to go _**ALL THE WAY**_!"

Kezoa—so startled by Maltegere's comeback—remained frozen where she was as Maltegere used his mask and disappeared, as well as have apparently had thrown his ball of energy. Though Kezoa could not see it, she could definitely feel it coming. She threw her arms in front of her face in an X-mark and her body stiffened till it turned into a plank of thick wood. The energy ball hit her and she was sent skidding back against the arena floor, but since she was prepared for the impact she only slid a few feet. Kezoa felt Maltegere grab her side from behind and she was hurled into an arc onto the ground.

"I no longer care for Makuta's wrath!" Maltegere roared, "Nothing matters so long as you _**die here**_!"

If Maltegere was fooling around before, Kezoa no longer doubted it now. His strength had increased and his speed of execution quickened to almost impossible odds. Kezoa was whipped around and slammed like she was some angry child's plaything, and she knew that if she didn't do something soon or if Maltegere didn't stop, her seams would come undone and her stuffing would spew all over the place.

Maltegere released his hold on her and threw Kezoa at the ground. Kezoa heaved for air and tried to stumble to her feet. Maltegere was no where to be seen, but she could hear his footsteps and his labored breathing echoing around her from all sides, sometimes it hovered so close to her ear Kezoa slapped at it hoping that she would hit Maltegere. There was no fooling around now. Maltegere was circling like a shark, and if she allowed him to strike one more time, it would clearly be the end for her.

"KEZOA!"

Kezoa looked up at Tahu, he had managed to get an arm free and he held a blade in that hand, he grunted with effort and tossed the blade with all of his might at Kezoa. She reached out and grabbed the hilt of the blade just as another explosion of energy erupted, but the blade shielded the attack. Instead of ripping her apart, it just pushed her across the arena floor on her knees. Kezoa further tightened her grip on the blade and heaved herself to her feet.

Maltegere's footsteps echoed from all around her; seemingly to have come from everywhere at once. She couldn't orient herself enough to figure out where he was coming from or where he would strike next, so she swung Tahu's blade wherever she heard an indication of where he might have been.

"KEZOA!" Tahu yelled again from the wall, "The blade uses fire! USE THE FIRE!"

Kezoa looked down at the blade, then up at the space of the arena. Maltegere hadn't revealed himself yet, but Kezoa decided she couldn't afford to wait long enough for him to do so. Kezoa gulped and willed the blade to ignite. Which it did.

Kezoa yelped and almost dropped the blade, but if she hadn't had heard Maltegere coming toward her again she most certainly would have. She instead inhaled deeply, tightened her grip on the sword, and then slashed at the air where she heard Maltegere approach. The path of the blade created a crescent-shaped stream of fire, and it shot forward faster than Kezoa's eyes could see it. A section of the crescent rammed into Maltegere—a section of the stream of fire shattered with the impact—and she heard Maltegere grunt in surprise.

"Yes!" Kezoa, Tahu, and Lewa yelled together. Their happiness was short lived.

Kezoa felt an object wrap around her wrist, then twist it gruffly. Kezoa shrilled in pain and the blade flew from her grasp. Not wanting her wrist to be broken, she allowed the transference of energy affect her body that caused her to whirl to the ground. Maltegere had obviously got a hold of her. _But how_? Kezoa screamed in her head, _I hit him with fire_! Fire! _How could he not be affected by it_?

Maltegere could not read minds, and if he could he didn't answer. Instead, he dragged Kezoa across the arena floor a short distance before she was lifted off the ground and hurled at the statue on the opposite end of the arena. As her body reached terminal velocity, Kezoa felt her body relax like a cat's would. But instead of landing on her feet, she landed hard into the foundation of the statue. The concrete cracked and shattered at the force applied. She felt her neck snap back into the base of the statue and she saw stars fly over her vision. For a moment, the concrete held her in its grasp, then she was released and she flopped to the ground.

"SISTER!" Lewa cried.

"KEZOA!" Tahu bellowed over Maltegere's triumphant laughter.

It sounded so distant to her…like she was floating in a sea a mile away from the shore where they were. For a moment, Kezoa thought she was actually going to die. Then she heard the Matoran screaming.

"DON'T GIVE UP! DON'T GIVE UP!" they chanted. Weird…she had forgotten that they were witnesses to the battle…they didn't know her, yet they were trying to prod her into action, encouraging her to fight on. "_It seems you have won the heartstones of the Matoran_." Lewa had said. Apparently he was right.

_I can't give up_. Kezoa concluded. _Not now_.

Her mask began to vibrate and her vision changed. In front of her the cavern she had created began to glow in some faint gold light. For a moment, Kezoa didn't understand what this meant. Then the glowing changed and transformed into a spear. The spear was as tall as she was, and its blade was wide and sharp, curved like a wide upside-down **U**. As she watched, the gem that lay at the base where blade met hilt began to change color into a vibrant red, and the blade's tip turned into a thin line of shadow. Kezoa suddenly remembered the shadow that she had encountered at Le-Metru's dock. Her eyes widened as suddenly all the pieces of the puzzle clicked into place.

Slowly, she reached forward and wrapped her hand around the hilt of the spear.

With the spear firmly in her grasp, Kezoa swallowed the pain lancing through her veins and wobbled to her feet. Maltegere's laughter stopped as the Matoran's cries changed from desperation to victory.

"Still alive, are we?" Maltegere growled. Kezoa was astounded and relieved to find that she could actually _see_ Maltegere this time—his body was blacker than night, black as the shadow that had attacked her on the dock. The glowing gold shapes of the Matoran, Lewa, and Tahu shone underneath a layer of such shadow, and Kezoa realized that she was actually seeing the invisible as translated into her enhanced vision. Meanwhile, Maltegere was left unaware. He darted forward to her as fast as he could, yelling in fury.

Though the sound was still warped, coming from everywhere at once, Kezoa knew exactly where he was approaching and when he would get there. She inhaled deeply and steadied the spear. She counted down the steps that Maltegere would take to get to her, and when the countdown reached zero, she slashed her new spear up at the sky.

She caught Maltegere off guard and she opened a gaping wound on his chest. Maltegere howled as the blood from his body spilled onto the floor.

Kezoa mercilessly mounted another attack. She leaped forward and gave forth another slash, this time in the opposite direction. Another wound yawned open at where her blade had contacted and sliced through his armor, creating an X made of blood and muscle fibers. She placed both hands on the hilt and adjusted the blade so the hilt was resting on her shoulder and the tip of the blade pointed at the wound that she had slashed open on Maltegere. Kezoa lunged forward as Maltegere dove to the side and Kezoa drove the blade deep into his arm. Maltegere gave out another scream. Kezoa felt his hand grab her neck again, and she responded in kind by slashing his wrist with all the malice she could muster. Blood spewed everywhere. It spattered the Coliseum floor and rained down on Kezoa.

Suddenly, the shadow cloaking Maltegere vanished. He froze where he was, staring into space. His body seemed to have lost its skeleton, and he toppled—almost in slow-motion—to the ground. The shadows cloaking everyone disappeared and the Matoran fell silent as they watched the proceedings. Kezoa switched off her mask and glared down at Maltegere, who was still conscious as he tried to staunch the bleeding in his arm.

"_You_ were the one who wanted to fight dirty." Kezoa gestured to Tahu, Lewa, and the Matoran, her voice almost didn't sound like her own.

Maltegere growled at her, but backed away. Kezoa watched as he called his shadows and they wrapped around him, turning into bandages that wrapped around the X-shaped wound on his chest and the fatal slash on his wrist, the remainder of the shadows morphed into wings that carried Maltegere quickly away from the Coliseum.

For a moment, nothing else happened.

Then a Matoran started to clap.

As if a spell was broken, the Matoran then erupted into a chorus of applause and approval. Kezoa blinked and shook her head, like a spell had been broken on her too. She looked around at all the shouting Matoran, surprised that she could be so loved already. Kezoa shook her head again and darted to Lewa and Tahu, who were coming to their feet and dusting themselves off. They smiled at her as she approached.

Kezoa opened her mouth to ask them if they were okay, but jumped at a loud THUD sound. She, Tahu, and Lewa turned to the door and suddenly Pohatu and Onua careened through, shattering the lock and forcing the door open, with the rest of the Toa and Turaga right behind them, they looked just as startled by the applause as Kezoa was, they looked around briefly before headed toward them.

"What happened here?" Gali demanded, staring mostly at the large amount of blood on the arena floor, when she saw the gaping wound in Tahu's shoulder she cried out in shock and sped towards him, "TAHU! What in the name of the Great Spirit—?"

"I'm fine, Gali." Tahu tried as he attempted to push Gali away from touching the wound, "It's nothing that can't be fixed."

"Just what transpired here?" Kopaka asked as he looked around at all the happy Matoran—they were all on their feet and all screaming approval at Kezoa and the return of the Toa Nuva and the Turaga.

"You should have seen it, Brother!" Lewa cried, "Kezoa was most-brave! She fought like a true Toa-hero!"

"Lewa speaks the truth." Tahu nodded, "It appears that the servant of the Makuta who had kidnapped her—Maltegere—came back to try and take her again. His mask has the ability to conceal himself so that he could not be seen nor heard. He caught me and Lewa off-guard and tried to go one-on-one with Kezoa. Obviously, he failed."

"Oh, stop." Kezoa murmured, she lowered her head to the ground and watched her shuffling feet as she blushed again, "It's not like I did such a good job…"

"You've done well enough." Turaga Vakama assured, patting her wrist, "You are still here, you are considerably in one piece, and you have apparently won the approval of the Matoran."

"Tahu, stop pushing me away! This must be treated!"

Kezoa looked up at Gali, who was still trying to tend to Tahu's gaping wound.

"I told you! I'm _fine_, Gali!" Tahu objected.

"Do not protest to your sister's healing." Nokama scolded, she gave Tahu's leg a slight tap with her staff, "Go to one of the lower levels and mend the injury. We shall take care of the crowd."

Tahu growled in displeasure, but he did not disobey and he allowed Gali to escort him to the door that lead to one of the lower levels, the other Toa trailing in their wake. Kezoa was about to follow, but one of the Turaga clutched her wrist. She looked down in surprise and found it was Turaga Onewa who had taken a hold of her hand.

"The other Toa can tend to Tahu. You are needed here." Onewa said, he pulled on Kezoa's wrist and towed her behind him as he followed the other Turaga to some balcony that was rested at the bottom of the arena behind the statue that she had been thrown into. None of the Turaga spoke as they lead her to the balcony they all lined up along the edge and Onewa let go of Kezoa's hand when she was beside him. The door flap that they had gone through to enter the balcony shut and the whole terrace started to vibrate. Kezoa yelped in surprise and struggled to regain her footing as suddenly the balcony rose up thirty feet to over-see the crowd of Matoran.

"Matoran of Mata Nui!" Vakama announced, his quivery voice echoed all around the Coliseum and above the Matoran's excited rampage, "Welcome to the island of Metru Nui; my first home! You will find that this island may be somewhat different from your own, but in time I am all but certain that you shall accept this as your own home!"

_Matoran must not get laryngitis_…Kezoa thought as the Matoran shrieked and whooped in happiness and celebration.

"Together with the Toa Nuva, we shall quell the uprisings from Makuta's underlings!" Vakama proclaimed, "And with this in mind, I beg you to welcome the newest addition to the Toa Nuva: Toa Kezoa!"

Kezoa almost went deaf with the enormity of the Matoran's shouts. Turaga Onewa nudged her gently for her to step forward and acknowledged the Matoran. When she did, she couldn't stop the grin from splitting her face. It made her spirits rise in her chest to know that the Matoran had approved her joining the Toa Nuva. Though she had no idea why.

"We shall be guided by the Great Spirit; our protector, Mata Nui! And with the aid of the three virtues, we shall obtain peace!"

"UNITY! DUTY! DESTINY!" the Matoran chorused.

_Three virtues_? Kezoa thought as she gazed around, _only three? _But at the same time, a peace settled into her heart.

_Unity. Duty. Destiny. By these virtues, we shall obtain peace_…

* * *

**AN**: I hate introductions…for me they're the most awkward part of any story. Interestingly enough, it was for this reason that I stopped writing four years ago, when I had to introduce characters that _I_—and everybody else reading this, for that matter—knew, but Kezoa did not. It became so awkward for me that I put myself between a rock and a hard place when I started writing it again. Matter of fact, I had stopped writing _again_ halfway through this chapter. So I'm über sorry you guys have to wait! (I need to make up a deadline for myself…)

Maltegere's mask is related to Toa Vakama's Kanohi Huna, but alters slightly in comparison. For instance, the Kanohi Huna only makes its wielder invisible, not like the Kanohi Clocca, which not only make the wielder invisible but also separate objects or people at the exact same time, and while the Huna doesn't conceal the user's shadow, the Kanohi Clocca does. Also, the Kanohi Clocca mutes or "throws" any sound that its user makes to a different section of the area, to further disorient foes and allow for the element of surprise from the user (that's why Kezoa wasn't able to locate Maltegere from sound alone when he talked or walked, it's also why she couldn't hear Tahu or the Matoran in the arena). There's also more to the Clocca than inside of this chapter, but it's too early in the story to be naming off spoilers! (;P)

Hope you liked it, comments and reviews are very much welcome!

Until next time!


	5. First Assignment! A Rampant Rahi?

Disclaimer: I do not own Bionicle, or its parent company. This story was created for the entertainment of the writer and the readers and does not reflect anything on Bionicle, Lego, or any of its affiliates.

(Yadda, yadda, yadda, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera…)

* * *

Kezoa was told that Ga-Metru was one of the quietest places in Metru Nui, second only to Ko-Metru. Ga-Metru was home to teachers and students, and—as she was surprised to learn—the inhabitants, besides those from other Metru's that worked or visited here, were exclusively female. Ga-Metru was basically a city of learning and worship, dedicated to the Great Spirit Mata Nui. As Kezoa soon noticed, because of the blue overtones and the large majority of silence in the city, it had a calming effect on all those who came here, and as Kezoa sat down on the roof of one of the buildings she easily found herself in a trance, just thinking about random things.

Mostly about her family back on Earth. Kezoa was fairly certain that it had been at least a week since she had been kidnapped by that shadow cloaked-man, Maltegere. Kezoa was told by Turaga Whenua that he (though not well known) was one of the most loyal servants of the Makuta Teridax, an evil being that Kezoa decided to equalize to the Devil, since it seemed to fit him. Since that second encounter with him in the Coliseum's heights, she was more confident about her abilities as a Toa. Her mask, as she learned, could seek out and "see" that which was supposed to be hidden.

In addition to that, after submitting her spear—which she found when Maltegere slammed her into the bottom of a statue, dedicated to one of the ancient Toa—to the Turaga for analysis, she was told that it had an edge of energized "protodermis" that could slice thought the cloaking effect Maltegere had on himself and anything or anyone, making him at least a target you had a possibility of hitting, rather than an extremely low chance with his invisible capabilities. After that day of sending Maltegere running with his tail between his legs, Kezoa had been living in the Coliseum with the Turaga to help them straighten out some things inside the large building that had been destroyed in the many long years of absence…besides strange bio-mechanical animals they call "Rahi", which only seemed to make the problem worse rather than better.

Coincidentally, that was the reason she was here today.

Gali had come to the Coliseum to attain the assistance of another Toa. She said that the Ga-Matoran had come to her when they had discovered a strange and enormous Rahi inside one of the studies; it had been sleeping there and was mighty angry when it was awoken by the Ga-Matoran, but it did not move from the study unless someone came too close to its territory, which it would then charge whoever was there. It left several Ga-Matoran seriously hurt, and Gali wasn't about to take it on alone. However, the rest of the Toa were helping their own villages get settled in, and could not come help her as she had learned from the Turagas, so Kezoa was the one that Gali chose to help her capture and sedate this Rahi, since she was the only one that could afford being drawn away a day or two from her work.

Turaga Whenua offered that he would bring several Matoran who were skilled in the ways of Rahi to assist Gali and Kezoa to capture it, hopefully to preserve it in the archives of Onu-Metru, since there had not been a species previously cataloged that remotely sounded like the Rahi described by the Ga-Matoran victims. As far as Kezoa was concerned, she was glad for the help. How in the world would she help capture a Rahi? And on the accounts that she received from the Turaga, interviewed Matoran, and Gali, this Rahi was supposed to be very large. As large as a Kikanalo, whatever that was.

Kezoa sighed and rested her hand on her knuckles, supported by her knee. Kezoa waited atop of this building in front of the dwelling of the perpetrating Rahi for the arrival of Gali, who was currently escorting the Matoran to this location. Kezoa, every now and again, could see brilliant green eyes that belonged to the Rahi peering out of the darkness in the building, a protodermis study, which it lived. The first time she saw it, she nearly fell off the building in surprise. She had since learned, however, that this Rahi wouldn't come out for anything unless its territory had been threatened. In fact, in an effort to entertain herself, she had gotten into a staring contest with it at one point. So far, she was winning.

Well, she _was_ winning until she heard something.

Kezoa turned to where she heard the sound. It sounded like the equivalent of something buzzing by your ear, although not quite. Behind her, there was nothing but buildings and bird-like creatures flapping in the sky. Kezoa looked around again for the source of the sound, but she heard nothing. Then she heard it again.

_Spirit-Seeker…_

Kezoa grabbed her spear and jumped to her feet.

"Who's there?!" she demanded. Hearing no reply, she called upon her mask for guidance.

Her face grew warm as her mask spurred into action; her eyesight temporarily blurred, but then cleared up brighter and crisper than she had ever seen before, like she had 60/20 vision with blue hues cascading over her sight like waves. Faint outlines of the buildings behind her shone with faint rays of yellow that indicated some sort of sentient force immersed within those walls, but not enough to actually indicate life of intelligence. However, the buildings were not of her concern.

In front of her, about fifteen feet away, stood a silvery life form. The details were not very clear, like he was kind of there, but kind of not there at the same time. She could see his mask clearly, but she could not see what was behind the mask, like there was no one really there at all. In addition, he looked like he was underneath a veil of slightly turbulent pool water; with transparent holes in his body that revealed Ga-Metru behind him that pulsated and moved.

"Who are you?!" Kezoa ordered, "Why are you here?!"

_I come in peace, Spirit-Seeker._ The being held up a hand—that disappeared, reappeared, shrank, then grew all at the same time—as if to indicate as such, _You're abilities are greatly needed._

"You work for that Makuta guy, don't you?" Kezoa sneered, hoping she sounded more intimidating than she really felt, "Well, I'm not going to work for him. My allegiance is with the Toa! And nothing you can do will change that!"

_Hear me, Spirit-Seeker_. The silvery figure pleaded, _I am no servant of Makuta. My name is Dion, and I am—_

Kezoa suddenly heard a low growl from behind her. She whirled around to the Rahi in the study-turned-cave and saw what had started to agitate it so.

It was a Matoran, a white one. Based on her gatherings, each Toa's element corresponded with the color of their village, so that meant that this Matoran was from Ko-Metru; Kopaka's village.

So…what was he doing here?

Before Kezoa could react, the Rahi emitted a split-second growl, then sprang out of the study and headed directly towards the Ko-Matoran. He whirled around and booked it down the street out of sight with the Rahi following hard on his heels. Kezoa lunged forward to chase after the Rahi, but before she jumped off the building she looked behind her to see if the silver life form was still there. It wasn't. What did it say its name was? Dion?

Kezoa growled herself and shook her head. _No time to worry about that. The Matoran!_

Kezoa switched off her mask and soared off of the building and hurtled down the path the Ko-Matoran and the Rahi took. She sprinted as fast as she could, and it wasn't long before she saw the bladed-tip tail of the Rahi, still thundering down the corridors and leaping over the canals of the Metru. Kezoa could not see the Ko-Matoran, but she caught faint glimpses of him whenever he turned a corner, only to be followed by the enormous, scrambling Rahi. Kezoa knew that the Matoran couldn't keep up the pace, and eventually he would become exhausted and then pounded into dust by the territorial creature.

Kezoa looked up and around the streets around her and decided that hopefully her Toa body could manage to bound up to the top of one of the buildings, sprint across the rooftops, and eventually cut off the Rahi at the same time as she would snatch the Ko-Matoran from a certain death. Kezoa sheathed her spear and sprang up to the ledge of a window, she managed to grab it by her fingertips, but it was no easy feat to manage to haul herself to her feet and retain enough balance on the ledge long enough to grab the edge of the rooftop and pull herself up upon it quickly.

Kezoa strained over the edge and had to struggle against her instinctual habit to collapse on the ground and recover from the massive amount of energy used. Instead, she got to her feet as fast as she could and barreled across the rooftops, leaping over the gaps between the buildings, all while keeping an eye on the Rahi and making sure that it didn't catch up with the Matoran and rip him to shreds. Kezoa waited for just the right moment to reach down and save the Matoran from an inescapable fate, and in a few moments, she saw her opportunity.

Ahead of her, there was some sort of crane-like structure. It had a long dangling arm attached to a hook, meant to lift large beams away from entrances into the buildings. But at this moment, it would be transformed into a swing. Kezoa looked at the Matoran and the Rahi, she calculated the distance between her, them, and the crane. When the math and physics clicked and made sense enough to transform into a possible solution, she willed her legs to pump faster and she soon was ahead in the race. As she neared the crane, she tensed the muscles in her arms and readied for a jarring impact.

When she reached the edge of the building, she gave forth a great leap with her arms reached out to grab the crane's arm. Her hands touched the hanging section of the arm, and Kezoa tightened her grip on it. The crane's hook swung on the force of the impact, it went forward and for a moment it seemed like Kezoa would hit the building on the opposite side of the street. Kezoa stuck out her feet, when she hit the wall she angled her body and forced it to run on the wall, she raced forward and counted down to when the white Matoran would appear around the corner. As soon as her feet left the edge of the building, the Matoran came right into target range. Kezoa leaped off of the building, extended her arm, and snatched the Matoran up.

As they swung past, the Rahi snapped down on empty air where the Matoran once was. It screeched to a halt and looked around, searching for what had happened to its prey. It pressed its muzzle to the ground and inhaled quickly and deeply, searching for the scent of the intruding Matoran. When no scent could be found, the Rahi snorted in satisfaction and turned around and trotted happily away back toward its den.

Meanwhile, Kezoa and the Ko-Matoran watched it proceed, halfway underwater. When she had grabbed the Matoran, she let go of the crane and allowed herself to swing high into the air. She hadn't, though, expected a canal of liquid protodermis to be her landing pad. She and the Matoran slammed into the water, swam to the surface, and watched as the Rahi made sure that the Matoran had left its territory. The Rahi had just left the scene, though Kezoa waited and listened for the great clomping steps of the Rahi to disappear out of earshot before she paddled to the outer wall of the canal with the Ko-Matoran in the crook of her arm. Kezoa hauled the Matoran up onto the edge first before she grasped the wall and heaved herself out of the water.

"What were you thinking?!" she cried, "Do your realize what that Rahi could have done to you?!"

"I had it under control." the Ko-Matoran muttered, dusting his body off of water. His voice was flat and slightly monotone, almost like Kopaka's.

"Not from where I was standing!"

"Then you should have moved farther downwind." The Ko-Matoran snapped (in monotone), "I was leading the Rahi towards a trap! If you had bothered to look ahead, you would have seen it!"

"What?" Kezoa appalled, "A _trap_?"

Kezoa heard hurried footsteps approaching, she turned around and saw Gali and two Onu-Matoran come racing around the corner.

"Matoro!" they cried.

"Matoro?" Kezoa turned to the Ko-Matoran.

"Yes, that's me." Matoro stood and dusted off his body, "I'm alright. I was not harmed."

"Well, when you didn't arrive at the trap when you said you would we got worried." Said one of the Onu-Matoran.

"I know." Matoro said, he gestured to Kezoa, "_She_ was the one who caused for my delay."

"Hey!" Kezoa cried as she shot to her feet, "I didn't know you were one of the Rahi trappers! For all I knew, you were just some Matoran who was about to get trampled to the ground!"

"That's my fault, Kezoa," Gali shushed, she placed a hand on Kezoa's shoulder, "By the time I had gotten to them Matoro already had the trap prepared and had set off to be the bait."

Kezoa relaxed slightly, the edge of her anger had dulled down knowing that Gali didn't do it on purpose.

"In any case," Matoro grumbled, he and the Onu-Matoran started off in the direction Matoro was originally leading the Rahi, "we better try again. We'll wait till nightfall, since the element of surprise has been taken away from us."

Kezoa was about to give Matoro a piece of her mind when Gali held her back.

"Kezoa, don't worry about it." She whispered, "Listen, Matoro is the best Rahi-trapper on both Mata Nui and Metru Nui. He's on good terms with the Onu-Matoran and Turaga Whenua, as he has done business with them in the past."

"But Turaga Whenua never said anything about a Ko-Matoran!" Kezoa hissed back.

"I know. It was only until just recently that Turaga Nuju volunteered Matoro for the case."

Kezoa opened her mouth to offer further argument but Gali waved it away as she followed Matoro and the other Onu-Matoran around the street corner.

()()()()()()

"…based on what I've seen, I'd think it was a mutant cross between a Kikanalo, a Fireflyer, and a Kavinika." Matoro listed, "it was the size of a Kikanalo, had the same look as a Kavinika, and the stinger of a Fireflyer…probably as deadly as all three if not more so."

"Are you serious?" the Onu-Matoran named Jotak asked, "There's nothing like that description already cataloged in the archives, and the Turaga say they've never seen anything like that kind of creature!"

"Remember, though, that the very reason that we're here is to capture this Rahi and preserve it for the archives." The second Onu-Matoran, Illuden, pointed out, "Not to mention restart work in Ga-Metru."

Kezoa sat off to the side of the group; her arms hugged her knees close to her chest while her head rested upon them as she watched the Matoran talk and the fire a little distance away from the group. The three Matoran have worked together before, as told by Gali, and they were very accomplished Rahi tamers on Mata Nui. _It must have gotten to Matoro's head_…Kezoa thought. She cringed slightly whenever she remembered Matoro's sharp reprimand of her interfering with a plan she was not informed of, as it was a reminder as her first (if not second) failure as a Toa. She had to refrain from shuddering again. _Stay calm, Kezoa; if you haven't failed, you haven't lived_.

"What do you recommend we do to capture this Rahi?" asked Gali. Gali was a little bit closer to the three Matoran—she sat cross-legged on the ground and leaned forward intently whenever an interesting fact had been brought up.

"I suggest we tranquilize it." Matoro said, "Since our earlier trap failed,"—Matoro cast a hard glare at Kezoa while he said this—"sedating it will have to do."

"And how do you plan to do _that_?" Kezoa fired back.

"Easy:" Matoro smirked, "we fire a Weaken Kanoka disk at the Rahi. It will anesthetize it to the point where we can come in and trap it much easier, and with less chance of a letdown."

Kezoa felt both humbled and infuriated at Matoro's response. It took all her mental strength to bite her tongue—figuratively—and turn away from what she saw as a confrontation.

"I will go and fetch a Weaken Kanoka disk from Ko-Metru." Gali offered as she got to her feet, "It shouldn't take long. When do you plan on luring out the Rahi again?"

"Sometime tomorrow morning, when the first sun is over the horizon." Illuden answered.

"I shall go then. Stay in one place until I return." Gali said, however Kezoa felt that the last part of the sentence was mostly for her as Gali walked away from the warm glow of the fire and took off down a dark street.

"Get some rest." Matoro said. He walked over to a fallen beam by the side of a building and sat upon it; he took out a bag from underneath his perch and drew out a cylindrical object that opened into a scroll, which he promptly began to read. Illuden and Jotak lapsed into a conversation and Kezoa edged closer to the fire to get warmer. She readjusted her position and knelt at the base of the fire and held out her palms to the warmth, she watched as it flickered serenely from between the gaps in her fingers. She looked up from the fire and stared at the scroll Matoro was reading. It was a parchment of sorts, but it was thin enough that the fire alighted it and Kezoa could see what Matoro was reading; circular runes with markings in their centers. It was obviously their language, but it was a rather peculiar one at that.

Since she knew she couldn't read it, Kezoa looked back down at the fire.

An ear-splitting groan sang through the air, Kezoa leaped in surprise and the conversation between Jotak and Illuden was immediately ceased.

In the light of the full moons—two of them, just like the suns—, Kezoa saw the silhouette of the Rahi sitting on its haunches atop of the roof of a high building, with its nose raised to the moon. The Rahi was the one who emitted the song, and it howled to the moon in a drawn out single note.

"Just like a wolf…" Kezoa murmured.

The Rahi howled three more times before Kezoa watched it leap from the roof of the building, its stinger waving in the air, and vanish back into its den, where it remained quiet for the rest of the night.

She knew this because, as Kezoa discovered, Matoran do not sleep. Neither do Toa.

Even after no doubt half the night, Jotak and Illuden somehow found topic after topic to discuss, and whenever Matoro finished reading one scroll he pulled out one after another. The fire had died down to a faint glow of embers that wasn't sufficient enough to heat Kezoa. She curled into a ball to try and retain heat and wished that she had Tahu's fire sword with her.

"Where is Gali?" Kezoa grumbled. She didn't think it took long to get from one village to another.

"Getting bored?"

Kezoa looked up to see Matoro watching her.

"What's it to you?" Kezoa wanted to say, she bit her words back at the last second as she decided that it was probably not a good idea to burn any more bridges with the Matoran. So instead, she shrugged and nodded. Matoro reached in his pack and fumbled around for a scroll.

"You haven't looked at a map for Metru Nui, have you?" he asked. Kezoa furrowed her brows and shook her head. Matoro pulled his hand out of his bag and tossed a scroll to her. Kezoa reached up and easily caught it before it fell into the embers, "I just got this from Turaga Nuju. He gave it to me because it has a map of Ga-Metru in detail and he figured I might need it to capture the Rahi."

Kezoa examined the cylinder in her hand and pushed a red button in its center, it clicked and a locking mechanism released its hold on the lower end of the scroll and it unfolded easily in her hands. It expanded to reveal a map of what appeared to be an island. Kezoa assumed it was Metru Nui, but was dismayed to see that it was marked by the circular runes that apparently made up the alphabet system for the Matoran. Kezoa hid her disappointment and pointed at the map in a general manner while turning it to face Matoro.

"Where did Gali go?" she asked.

"To Ko-Metru—my village—in the north. Ko-Metru is where all the Kanoka disks are recorded and stored. Though they're made here in Ga-Metru, only Ko-Metru has a storage system that keeps the Kanoka disks powers from deteriorating over time. Since no one has been here since the time before time, that particular area is the only place where usable Kanoka disks have been found."

"Oh. Okay. Why didn't you go, since it was your Metru?"

"Gali volunteered to do so. Besides, I'd rather stay here and learn as much as I can about this Rahi, and I can do that better by staying here and observing if it displays any interesting behaviors, like what we just witnessed."

"I see." Kezoa murmured, though she really still didn't know exactly where Gali had gone. Or even where Ga-Metru was. As Matoro turned back to his scroll, Kezoa nonetheless studied the map and tried to make out details or even clues as to how she should read the runes on the map. As she did, Kezoa felt a chill go over her spine.

She heard the buzz again.

Kezoa looked up and around. Jotak and Illuden kept talking to each other animatedly, and Matoro had hardly looked up from his scroll. Kezoa looked from side to side down the dark streets and alleyways but found nothing. So she ignored the buzz that she had heard and went back to the map. The buzz came again and Kezoa slapped at the ear from which she had heard it from and looked up from the map, she unfurled a foot and placed it on the ground so that she could be ready for whatever had made the noise. Now Jotak and Illuden finally noticed something other than their talk.

"Toa Kezoa, what's—?"

"Shh!" Kezoa hissed, she cupped a hand by her ear, out of habit, and listened again for the buzzing sound. The buzzing sound did not come again, but instead a slithering. Kezoa dropped the map, leaped to her feet, reached down into the embers, ignored the burning in her hand, and chucked a clump to where she heard the slithering sound. She heard a faint shrill and the street was momentarily alighted.

Shrinking away from the ember Kezoa had thrown was a shadow. Maltegere's shadow.

Jotak and Illuden yelled in shock and Matoro's head jerked up from his scroll just as Kezoa whipped out her spear and willed her mask to turn on. Her vision turned into an infra-red version of her HD vision (the blue had turned to a dark forest green) and the dark shadow smeared across her sight, slinking as quickly as it could in the opposite direction as the dying gold glow of the ember faded away.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Illuden howled.

Kezoa peered from left to right, then forward and backward. When there were no more shadows that she could see, she turned her mask off and sheathed her spear.

"Nothing now." Kezoa assured, "It was just a lackey from Maltegere."

"Do you think there's more?!" Jotak hissed.

Kezoa looked around again, just to reassure the Matoran. And herself, partially. She shook her head, and Jotak and Illuden sighed in relief. Rather than kneel on her feet she crossed her legs at the ankles so that she would be more ready to spring into action should she hear or see any of Maltegere's minions. Matoro inched closer to the fire, hauling his packs with him. Jotak and Illuden began talking again, but it was in hushed tones and their words came out a lot slower than before.

Matoro reached back into his pack and pulled out a torch looking object. He flicked the cap back and stuck it into the embers, and a new fire bloomed anew, burning the shadows farther back and creating a larger shield of light around them. Matoro went back to his scroll and Kezoa uneasily looked around her. She had heard the buzzing sound when that silvery being, Dion, first appeared to her. It was not accompanied with a slithering sound, like Maltegere's shadows were. So it must have meant that Dion lied to her about not being in league with the Makuta. It made logical sense to her, but for some reason the new knowledge didn't sink in, like her head was full of cotton. It just didn't feel right.

Kezoa sighed and folded the map back up and rolled it over to Matoro. It hit his foot but he didn't so much as look at it as Kezoa reclined onto her back and stared up at the stars with her hands laced into a crown on her stomach. Her mother told Kezoa that no matter where you were the stars always looked the same, formed the same constellations in the sky.

_Well, Mom, I can shoot _that_ theory full of holes_. Kezoa thought to herself. The moons, though, despite the fact that there were two of them, looked the same. Kezoa was unwillingly brought back to the thought of her parents. Instantly, her heart dropped and she felt like curling into a ball and disappearing into the floor. What happened to them after Maltegere tore their house apart and wrecked it with his shadows? It was still all a blur. A painful one, too, since that was when she had transformed into a Toa.

Kezoa felt the arm which Maltegere had grabbed tingle, like an after-effect. Kezoa had to stop herself from shivering as she remembered the searing pain that she had felt when Maltegere had touched her. It was obviously some poison or some other kind of potent venom, which Kezoa doubted the Turaga or anyone else had the antidote to. Kezoa inhaled deeply and cast the thoughts away. Instead she stared numbly at the moons like they had an answer for her.

Some couple hours later, when a faint streak of pink light was beginning to spread across the sky, Kezoa heard the sound of approaching footsteps and she was up on her feet in the flash of her heart-stone with her spear out and extended toward the sound. Jotak and Illuden cried out in fear and leaped over to the fire, thinking it was another shadow from Maltegere. Kezoa's muscles protested against the quick, sudden movement and she immediately felt pins and needles jab into her backside and legs. The figure that had approached them leaped back and cried out in surprise, holding their hands up. It had a disk-shaped object in one hand and a crossbow-looking device in the other. Wait, disk? That could only mean…

"Gali?" Kezoa called.

The figure slowly stepped out of the alleyway and into the blaze of the flames behind Kezoa. The light illuminated the figure's features and Kezoa discovered that it was indeed Gali who had arrived.

"You startled me!" Kezoa sighed. She relaxed and sheathed her spear.

"My apologies;" Gali panted, she extended the crossbow and the disk toward Kezoa and Matoro, who had gotten up and had come to stand at her side, "it took longer than I thought to get to Ko-Metru. I got lost twice."

"I had a map." Matoro said, taking the crossbow and the disk from Gali, "You could have asked me for it before you left."

"I didn't know you had one." Gali seemed to blush slightly at her embarrassment, "I would have borrowed it. Shall we catch this Rahi, then?"

Jotak, Illuden, Matoro, and Kezoa looked at each other.

"What? Is something wrong?"

"While you were gone," Kezoa began, "I saw one of Maltegere's shadows."

"Him again?!" Gali demanded, she looked around, "Is it still here?!"

"No, I chased it away."

"That being said," Matoro added, "it would probably be safer if we wait until_ both_ suns are over the horizon to start working."

"Yes, it probably would." Gali agreed, "But I still would prefer this Rahi out as fast as possible. Turaga Nokama tells me that if the protodermis temples are not started up then trade between the Metru's will not begin."

"Despite the setback, we still should be able to finish this task before the suns are high in the sky."

"I hope so."

"So, Matoro," Kezoa looked down at him and propped her fists on her hips, "you mind telling me what plan you've got? You know, so I don't _mess up_ again?"

"With pleasure." Matoro said, he pulled out the map from his pack and opened it up to the detailed diagram of Ga-Metru.

()()()()()()

Kezoa lay atop of a two-story cube-like building, pressing her stomach flat on the cement covered roof and straining her head over the rim of the building. Up the street and three buildings away, Kezoa saw Gali and Jotak crouched on the roof of an opposing building watching Illuden uneasily tiptoe forward to the Rahi mutt's lair. Illuden had drawn the short stick, so that explained why he was the one acting as bait for the Rahi mutt. Lucky for him though some two blocks down the road from where Kezoa was positioned Matoro was somewhere in an alley with the disk and launcher, ready for Illuden to race past him and shoot the Rahi as soon as Illuden left his range of sight. It seemed like a flawless play; Matoro had discreetly made it so that Kezoa was out of the way, disguising it as her, Gali, and Illuden supervising the trap to make sure it went smoothly. Though Kezoa at first was a little irritated, she forced herself to realize that failing again the very next day would not be good for her track record as a Toa.

Kezoa looked up and down the streets, peering into the alleyways and glancing behind her, making sure that none of Maltegere's shadows were there. Ever since she had taken up her position on this building, her nerves were alive and tingling, her muscles were involuntarily tensing, and her gut was screaming at her that something was going to go horribly wrong.

And, knowing her luck, they were probably right.

Gali appeared as jumpy as Kezoa was, but odds are it wasn't for the same reasons. She had her eyes glued on Illuden like a dog watches for crumbs of food, just waiting for something to drop or the food to slip from his master's hand.

Kezoa propped her arms on the rim of the building and rested her head on them, her head now angled toward where Illuden now approached the initiating stage. When Illuden stopped, for a moment nothing happened. Kezoa squinted and saw Illuden waving his arms wildly, as if he was trying to get the attention of the Rahi. Kezoa turned on her mask and squinted again at the building where the Rahi was. She saw that familiar brilliant gold glow, indicating that the Rahi mutt was indeed there, but if anything was asleep. Kezoa snickered at Illuden's pulsating glow, jumping quickly from side to side. For a couple of minutes, Illuden tried to catch the Rahi's attention, but was failing.

Finally, he got so frustrated that he jumped high in to the air, and on his landing he belted out a huge "**HEY**!"

The green eyes of the Rahi opened, and the chase began.

Illuden turned tail and dashed down the street, the Rahi—now obviously infuriated at both its invaded territory and interrupted sleep—roaring in fury at his back.

"Go, Illuden, go!" Kezoa urged silently to herself as the golden streaks of Illuden lead the Rahi past Gali and Jotak's station.

The buzzing began again, and this time the voice from before was right at her ear.

_SPIRIT-SEEKER, BEWARE_!

Kezoa whirled on the sound, but Dion or whoever he was had disappeared. Kezoa heard a startled cry and a great big THUD. She turned back to the street and found in front of the building she was stationed the Rahi mutt had fallen onto its side and was writhing furiously while Illuden, unknowing, barreled past the rendezvous point and continued tearing down the street as Matoro exited the alleyway to see what had happened.

"Kezoa!" he cried.

"What?!" she yelled back, "I didn't do anything!"

"NO! KEZOA, BEHIND YOU!"

Kezoa whirled around and a great shadow loomed over her in her vision, howling with great big clawed hands reaching for her. For a moment, Kezoa thought it was Maltegere, returned to ratify his vengeance. Kezoa shrieked and kicked wildly at the shadow, it impacted and the shadow recoiled backward, but Kezoa had inadvertently sent herself flying off the building. Kezoa landed flat on her back at the Rahi's feet, which shrieked and flopped wildly. Kezoa strained her head and looked to see that its feet were bound in a rope of shadow.

Kezoa heard the cry again and looked up at the clump of shadows leaping off of the building and landed in front of her. It spread itself like a fleece blanket and totally enveloped her and the Rahi mutt, blacking out Kezoa's enhanced vision. Kezoa pounded at the shadow and screamed for help. Through the thin veil of shadow, she saw her compatriots golden forms race up to her, but before they could reach her, the shadow pressed her and the Rahi flat against the ground. For a moment, Kezoa felt like a pancake, but soon it felt like a sheet of gelatin had given out under her weight and suddenly she and the Rahi seeped into the shadows.

Though she couldn't see anything, she felt like she was gliding across a sheet of silk that propelled her toward a destination, which she just knew that it was going to be where Maltegere was.

Kezoa felt like she was traveling in a subway that had a glass roof; the buildings rose above her and blocked out the sun in some cases as she and the panicked Rahi zipped through the shadows on the streets. Kezoa raised her arms and pounded on the shadow that had trapped her, but it stretched like thin rubber that shrank back to its normal size; unbreakable.

Suddenly, instead of buildings, Kezoa and the Rahi were below the surface of an ocean.

They were the shadows cast by the water, traveling low beneath the sand of the ocean as they hurled farther across the space of Metru Nui. It wasn't as dramatic as her first kidnapping, but still…

Now they were out of the water. They cascaded up the side of a building and the shadow that had wrapped around them squeezed through a horizontal window and threw them to the ground. The shadow burst on impact and Kezoa gasped in a lungful of air, she sat up as she did so and found her arms bound at the wrists behind her back. The Rahi howled in panic and continued to try and free itself, Kezoa turned to the Rahi and saw that over the vibrant gold glow of the creature itself, it still had the ropes bound across its ankles, but there were more of them and they bound the Rahi's muzzle shut and its stinger was pulled underneath its body between all four legs and the tip of the stinger pointed directly at an exposed set of muscle underneath the Rahi's chin. Kezoa pitied the Rahi for a split second, but only a split second because she heard the slithering sound again and the room immediately dropped to -50 degrees Celsius. For a moment, Kezoa thought it was Maltegere. When she flipped around, however, she discovered that it was not Maltegere who had appeared behind her.

It was someone else.

Nothing but two glowing red eyes glared at her. Two red eyes set before a backdrop of absolute darkness. Kezoa had never seen absolute darkness before, and it took a while before Kezoa realized what she was looking at.

_I'm staring down the throat of a black hole_…!

Kezoa's mouth opened and closed in shock. She wanted to say something; scream, cry, pray…anything. When you're looking at the face of fear, though, you tend to forget everything else.

Out of the black hole stepped the real Maltegere.

He still held the wounds from his previous encounter with her, and he was limping slightly from some unseen injury to his leg. Maltegere looked down at her, sneered, then turned and stalked away. For a moment, Kezoa was confused. Behind her, the Rahi was screaming like hell and flailed around so much that it hit her several times in its flurry to get free. Kezoa turned and looked at the Rahi's gleaming green eyes. If she thought they were bright before when they peered up at her in the darkness of its burrow, they were certainly brighter now. Perhaps the Rahi feared this black hole of a personage as much, if not more, than Kezoa did.

"SHUT UP!" Kezoa jumped ten feet as Maltegere howled, to which the Rahi didn't comply.

Maltegere sneered again, whipped out his arm and off of it came a tendril of shadow. It flew towards the Rahi and snapped it in the face, it squeaked in surprise, but offered no more sound. Maltegere seemed to have gotten over his tantrum and came forward to Kezoa, he grabbed her chin harshly, causing her mask to malfunction and switch off. And with it went the glowing red eyes and the black hole. Kezoa stared at the place where they once were as instead of pure blackness there was merely a dark room writhing in Maltegere's shadows, which were actually _brighter_ in comparison to the scene that she had just witnessed.

She wasn't staring long. Maltegere wrenched her chin and forced her to look at him.

"You've given me more trouble than you are worth, _Toa_." He spat.

Kezoa glared right back at him, "Good." She said smugly, "That means I've done my job."

Maltegere moved like he was going to hit her, but a voice suddenly echoed through the chamber, loud and terrible:

_**We need her alive, Maltegere.**_

The room dropped in temperature again, Kezoa couldn't help but shiver. Instantly, Maltegere released Kezoa and stumbled backward into the wall. His eyes were wide and they darted around the room, searching for where the voice came from. When he couldn't identify where it went, he went to one knee on the spot and crouched so low his head almost touched the ground.

"My master, Makuta…!" he breathed, "I-I humbly offer you this Toa, who had the ability to—"

_**I know exactly what she can do.**_ Makuta said. His voice echoed from everywhere at once. _**Patience, Maltegere, is obviously a trait you do not possess. Intelligence neither, it seems.**_

For a moment, Maltegere seemed to be at a loss for words. "Y-yes, Master…" he complied.

_Obviously he doesn't know what he's agreeing to_. Kezoa muttered in her mind. The cold descended upon her and chilled her down to her core, immediately Kezoa started to shake. Whether it was from the cold or the fear itself, she did not know, but she would never, in all her life, forget the feeling of Makuta's presence practically standing in front of her. It was so heavy, Kezoa found herself hunching over her knees at the sheer weight of his invisible existence. For a moment, Makuta evaluated her.

_**She will do.**_ Makuta finally assessed, _**though it is unfortunate that she has fallen into the hands of the Toa first. But, this was no fault of **_**hers**_**…**_

Kezoa heard Maltegere swallow loudly.

_**Regardless,**_ Makuta continued, _**she has the ability we need. I will come and fetch her myself. Keep her here, Maltegere, at all costs.**_

"Y-y-yes, Master…" Maltegere stuttered.

The oppressive force of Makuta lifted, and as the temperature in the room relaxed, both Kezoa and Maltegere audibly sighed in relief. Maltegere got back onto his feet.

"You heard him." Maltegere growled, "If you try any escape attempts, you'll have _me_ to answer to."

"I thought he said you needed me alive." Kezoa reminded him, her voice still a little quivering.

"Doesn't mean I can't scrape you up _a little_." Maltegere scowled. He whirled around and stalked back away into his shadows, which followed behind him like lost dogs. Speaking of pitiful animals, the Rahi began to whine again.

Kezoa looked back at the Rahi, then over to where Maltegere had left. The last thing she wanted was for him to come back.

Kezoa scooted closer to the Rahi and stroked its foreleg as best she could with her hands behind her back.

"Shh…" she soothed, "shh…it'll be okay…"

She and the Rahi remained there for the entire day in that room, waiting for whatever would happen next. Kezoa found herself so bored at times that she was sure that she would go mad. She didn't know if the Toa or Matoro and the others would find her before Makuta arrived and did whatever he planned to do, which odds were wasn't going to be very good for her.

But just as Kezoa thought she would go crazy from boredom and anxiety, the situation finally became something other than bleak.

The buzzing sound came again, and for a moment Kezoa feared that it was Maltegere or worse Makuta. But it wasn't. Kezoa turned on her mask and found the silver being, Dion, standing a few ways from her.

"_You_…!" she hissed, she tensed and coiled like she could strike despite her bindings.

_I apologize for not coming sooner, Spirit-Seeker, _he said, _however, the essence of Makuta lingers long after even his spirit form is in a space…_

"Yeah, you would know, would you?!" Kezoa snapped, "You were the one who called him here, weren't you?!"

_I was _not. Dion said adamantly, _I was trying to warn you of Makuta's arrival_! _I tried three times_! _It worked the second time, but at my first and third attempt you were wholly unaware of the absolute danger you were in_!

Kezoa scowled, but looked away, thinking about what he was actually saying. She heard the buzz the night before when she saw one of Maltegere's shadows. He has also yelled full on into her ear before she got kidnapped a second time. Maybe he _was_ telling the truth. She growled and turned back to Dion.

"Fine!" she snarled, "If you really are on my side, then help me free!"

_I would if I could, Spirit-Seeker, but in my spirit form I cannot manipulate any physical objects_—

"Of course." Kezoa spat.

—_but, I _can_ tell you that your spear's edge can cut the True Shadow that binds your hands._

Kezoa looked behind her down her back where her spear had lodged itself in the compartment. She turned back to Dion.

"But how am I supposed to grab it when I've got both hands tied behind my back?!" she demanded.

_If you're careful_, Dion suggested, _you can slide your hands underneath your body and end up with them in front. I think you'll find that it will be much easier to take your spear then._

Dion warped again, but this time he faded away for good. Kezoa waited and looked around; she couldn't see Maltegere's shadow of a form anywhere. She took a deep breath and pressed her knees as close to her chest as she possibly could. She then scooted backwards and over her wrists. From that point it was easy to lift her hands underneath her feet and raise them over her shoulder to the compartment where her spear lay. She reached in and fingered around until she felt the razor edge of the spear. She strained a little farther and managed to grab the flat of the spear with her fingers without cutting herself.

Slowly and carefully, Kezoa lifted the spear out of the compartment until it almost clattered on the floor when it was completely free.

Now that freedom was in range, Kezoa moved quickly. She positioned the spear between her legs and held the point close to her chest, and being careful to not run herself through, she slid the shadow ropes binding her wrists across the edge and saw in her HD vision the ropes snap and fade into oblivion. Now she could move her hands independently. Kezoa heard something and looked up to see Maltegere standing in the doorway.

At first, his mask was contorted into utter shock. It quickly mutated into rage and he lunged at her.

Without thinking, Kezoa whipped around and cut the ropes binding the Rahi.

Kezoa was batted to the side hard as the Rahi roared a battle cry and met Maltegere head-on. Maltegere was thrown to the opposite side of the room and the Rahi raced toward him to attack again. Kezoa decided now was as perfect of a time to escape unnoticed. Or at least in such a moment of chaos that Maltegere couldn't do a thing about it. Kezoa shoved her spear back into the compartment on her back and sprinted towards the horizontal window, about ten feet off the ground she was standing on. She grabbed its edge and heaved herself up upon it. She slid through the opening with plenty of room to spare.

She then, however, found herself plummeting through the air down to the ocean below.

Kezoa didn't have time to cry out in shock; she had already landed in the water and was sinking fast. Kezoa didn't know why she didn't float, but she didn't have time to argue with her logic on physics and instead pumped her arms and legs to swim upward and breech the surface of the water. Kezoa gasped in air and looked around for the nearest coast; her luck was good, as the shore of Ga-Metru didn't appear very far. She could still hear the Rahi fighting Maltegere as she kicked and sliced her way through the ocean towards Ga-Metru.

()()()()()()

Gali climbed up onto the streets of Ga-Metru at the appointed rendezvous point assigned by Matoro and allowed herself to rest and take a break.

She, Matoro, Jotak, and Illuden had been frantically searching for Kezoa for the entire day. At first, Jotak was in such a mess of nerves it took quite a while to get him to relax again. Then Matoro had to chase Illuden down, who was still galloping down the street like the Makuta himself was at his heels. After that, when Matoro finally rounded up Illuden and brought him back, Turaga Nokama and some twenty Matoran that were working at the Coliseum in the center of the island came to ask what was taking so long. When Gali revealed what had happened to Kezoa, the entire party split into even groups and searched for Kezoa; Turaga Nokama even went as far as sending a general alert to all of the Metru's on the backs of five Gukko birds to keep their eyes out for Maltegere, a mutant Rahi the size of a Kikanalo, and/or Kezoa. After treating Tahu's wounds after their first encounter with Maltegere, she had seen what he could do to a Toa. Gali just couldn't foresee a good outcome if they didn't find Kezoa.

Gali had just completed her search of all canals in the city, where they had last seen Kezoa in the embrace of a shadow. But no luck.

"Toa Gali!"

Gali turned to see Matoro rushing up to greet her, Illuden, a Po-Matoran, and Turaga Nokama close behind him.

"Any luck?!" Matoro demanded.

"No!" Gali panted, "I scanned all the floors of the canals; nothing! I have no idea where that shadow of Maltegere's took Kezoa or the Rahi!"

"Are you sure? Are you sure you didn't miss a spot or some canal or—"

"Calm yourself, Matoro." Nokama soothed, "Kezoa has dealt with Maltegere before; I'm sure she can handle herself."

Matoro's mask twisted with concern. Needless to say, Gali felt the same way, the picture of Tahu's gaping wound in her mind.

"Turaga Nokama's right." Illuden nodded, "Kezoa is a _Toa Nuva_, for crying out loud. Though she's a new one on the island, if I know Toa I know that they can look out for themselves. Kezoa will be fine."

Matoro opened his mouth to protest, but he was interrupted when the Po-Matoran pointed into the sea.

"_Speak of the Makuta_!" He shrieked.

All five of them spun around to see a purple speck propelling slowly towards them. Gali dared to hope and hopped back into the sea of protodermis. As she pumped her arms and legs and got closer, she nearly cried out in joy when she saw that it was indeed Kezoa swimming towards her.

"GALI!" Kezoa cried as she neared her. Gali, unable to help herself, flung her arms around her sister and clutched her tight.

"What happened?!" she demanded, separating from Kezoa and wrapping an arm around her as she started to swim back to Ga-Metru with Kezoa in tow.

"It…was…Maltegere…" Kezoa wheezed, growing slack in Gali's arm, "his shadow…it took me and the Rahi…to some building, and—"

"Shh! Wait till we get safely to shore. Then you can tell the story." Even as she said this, they were only a matter of distance away from edge of the street, but they were close enough that now the group aground could see Gali hauling in Kezoa and had begun to cheer. Gali got to the edge of the street and Kezoa reached the edge and gripped it tightly, she hauled herself onto the road with the Matoran and Turaga Nokama assisting. Kezoa coughed and spewed liquid protodermis out of her mouth and flopped onto her back as Gali heaved upward and was on her knees in the street beside the water-logged Toa.

Gali summoned her healing water and waved it over Kezoa's body, searching for any wounds on her person. Minus marks of bands on her wrists, a couple of dents, and a distant, clouded-over gaze, Kezoa appeared otherwise unharmed. Gali sighed and allowed her healing water to retreat back to whence it came, she gathered her sister in her arms and hugged her tightly again.

In her career as a Toa, occurrences such as these were not unusual. But in just a short time period, she had almost lost Tahu to poison, Onua and Pohatu to the cave-in at Onu-Koro, Takanuva when he opened the gate between Metru and Mata Nui, and her brand-new sister Kezoa—_twice_—to a deadly enemy plenty capable of destroying a Toa.

Since these experiences, Gali figured out the hard way that you don't know what you have until you almost lose it.

()()()()()()

When the Makuta arrived, it could be safe to say that he was mighty displeased.

Maltegere's incessant blabbering and excuses were not helping the situation any bit either. His voice was so high-pitched that the Makuta had a right mind to put him out of his misery. It would have made sense, since this was the third time that Maltegere had failed to procure what he needed. At first, he was pleased when Maltegere reported that he hand found someone who had he ability he was seeking to find his brother, Mata Nui. That pleasure, however, was short-lived when Maltegere returned claming to have lost her when someone—or something—interfered with the transport and she was dropped somewhere on the planet. Then, when the Makuta sent him hack to find the girl, he came back worse-for-wear and bleeding profusely all over the place, claiming that she had somehow formed an alliance with the Toa Nuva.

The Makuta was ancient, however. He fully understood the concept of patience and knew that, though time was of the essence, only time would tell if Maltegere would prove to be up to par with the Makuta's demands.

Obviously, he failed miserably.

The Makuta—in his shadow form—turned to a kneeling Maltegere and glared down at him.

_**Not only did you allow the Toa to escape,**_ he snarled, _**but you also allowed yourself to be defeated by a Rahi. A **_**Rahi**_**. Give me **_**one**_** good explanation why I shouldn't kill you right here and now**_**.**

"M-my Lord…" Maltegere whimpered, "This is j-just a minor setback. And it wasn't just an ordinary Rahi; it was a mutant of some kind—it had the size and strength of a Kikanalo, the speed of a Kavinika, and the poison of a horde of Fireflyers! And—"

_**CEASE YOUR EXCUSES!**_ Makuta roared, Maltegere shrieked in shock and scrambled backwards, _**A Rahi is a Rahi! Certainly, you do not **_**believe**_** that a mere **_**Rahi**_**—let alone a Toa as well—could possibly escape ropes made from the true shadow you are so famous for crafting! You disappoint me, Maltegere!**_

"But my Lord!" Maltegere tried again, getting back on one knee, "I was trying to tell you! Soon after they escaped I found traces that indicate—!"

_**Indicate WHAT**_**…exactly?**

Maltegere gulped. "Th-that she had _help_…my Lord."

_Help_? This changed things…the Makuta's eyes narrowed.

_**Help? Of what kind, do you suppose…?**_

Maltegere—sensing a change in his master's mood—looked up. "From _them_, your darkness…"

In that instant, Makuta didn't need Maltegere to tell him anymore. How in the name of the Great Beings did they find out? This fast?!

The Makuta howled in fury, and Maltegere's head quickly dipped back down to the floor again.

_**HOW?! HOW do they **_**always**_** know what I'm planning?!**_ Makuta screeched. For a moment, the Makuta allowed himself to rage and his shadows to burn themselves in the wall. As it did so, however, a peculiar event occurred. When the Makuta's shadows began to saturate the walls, the walls themselves shuddered. They convulsed and the shadows were hurled out of the walls as instantly the Makuta and Maltegere were bathed in a blinding—and for them, fatal—light. The Makuta howled alongside his damaged shadows and Maltegere clapped his hands over his eyes while he toppled to the ground in pain. When the light receded after what felt like an eternity, both shadow-men were stinging and blinded in the wake of the holy light.

_Yes, I forget…_the Makuta muttered to himself, _this is not a time to lose my temper…especially _here_, of all places…_

Begrudgingly humbled, the Makuta allowed his spirit form to shrink slightly so as his shadows were not permeating the walls. _**Maltegere!**_ He snapped.

"Y-yes, my Lord?"

_**I'm over **_**here**_**, you idiot! It seems that since in this certain incident this is no fault of your own, I have recalled the many other times which you have done me a great service. As of such, I have decided that despite the fact that you have failed me **_**three times**_**…you are deserving of another chance.**_

Maltegere's head shot up.

_**SO!**_ Makuta barked, before Maltegere could start singing praises, _**this is your new assignment: you are to keep an eye on the girl Kezoa, but you are to oversee her activities—not capture her— and report to me exactly who is helping her evade our control. If she fulfills her destiny whilst not under our control, it could herald results that are…**_**undesirable.**

"I understand your dark Excellency!" Maltegere cried, "I assure you, I shall not make any more mistakes—!"

_**Save your breath; it's useless to me**_.

Maltegere bit his tongue (figuratively, of course).

_**Call upon me when you have discerned the identity of Kezoa's helper. Since this task should be relatively **_**easy, **_**failure will **_**NOT **_**be tolerated this time**_**.**

"Yes, my Lord!" Maltegere bowed deeply again and the Makuta faded from view. As he floated among the edge of what is real and what wasn't, he allowed his mind to wander.

Over the past thousand years, Maltegere had proved to be useful a number of times…he was there the day when the Makuta had placed Mata Nui in his deep slumber, and Maltegere had long been a faithful and devoted follower. However, this Kezoa, or whatever her name was, was a force to be reckoned with. She had managed to almost fatally wound Maltegere; in addition she could see the true shadow that permitted his cloaking abilities. This fact also unsettled Makuta. Kezoa could _see_ the true shadows, a foreshadowing of what other powers she was capable of.

The Makuta decided that he could not allow himself to be a passive force anymore. Although, since the Toa Nuva still supposed him to be dead, he had to carry out his work quietly; behind another mask, so to speak…

An idea formulated in the Makuta's mind as he hovered over the sea that Kezoa had—unbeknownst to him—been swimming in moments ago. He looked up and beyond the horizon at the last sun barely setting below the waves. In the direction he was looking towards was an island not too far from Metru Nui. And even closer still was another island, hidden to common knowledge, deep beneath the waves.

The idea solidified in his head, and if he wouldn't have been harmed by it, a light-bulb might have appeared over his head. Makuta grinned and began to drift toward his new destination.

()()()()()()

"Where did you say you were again?"

Kezoa turned to Turaga Nokama. Night was almost upon them, Kezoa had failed to realize just how long she had been in captivity, but all the same she was happy to be around friends again. At least, people she knew weren't going to catch and offer her up to some blacker-than-night force. Turaga Nokama wasn't the only one here, in front of this newly erected fire; there was also Gali—still searching for unseen wounds—Jotak, Illuden, Matoro, and twenty or so Matoran, as well as the Po-Matoran who had alerted Gali to Kezoa swimming in the sea.

"I don't know exactly where I was," Kezoa told Turaga Nokama, "all I remember was it just being a building of some sort."

"Anything else?" asked Gali, she had apparently decided that there were no injuries and had come to a seat next to Kezoa, "Like who kidnapped you?"

"Yeah. It was Maltegere." Kezoa said.

"Him again?" Jotak cried, "I remember him from the Coliseum! Couldn't he turn invisible?"

"He can, but I can see him with this thing." Kezoa tapped her mask, "I figured it out today. Somehow, this mask can see life, and though Maltegere's got a good mask on him, my mask can negate that."

"So then that must be your Toa power!" A look of realization passed over Gali's face, "I was beginning to wonder about that…"

"What about the Rahi?" Matoro cut in, "What happened to it?"

"I have no idea." Kezoa shrugged, "It helped me escape by keeping Maltegere distracted while I jumped out of the window. I don't know what happened to it after that."

"Aw," Illuden exclaimed, "that means we must have lost it!"

"Oh, well…" Jotak sighed.

"Yes, at least this means that the purification labs in Ga-Metru can get working again." Matoro added, sending a cheer from whatever Ga-Matoran there was in the group. Gali got to her feet and offered a hand to Kezoa.

"Well done!" she congratulated as Kezoa grasped Gali's hand and was heaved to her feet, "You managed to complete your assignment!"

"It doesn't feel like it, though…" Kezoa murmured. Gali patted Kezoa's back.

"Kezoa, the job was to get the Rahi out of the way of the Matoran; though you did it in such unorthodox manners it may not feel like it to you—"

"'_Unorthodox_', being the operative word…" Kezoa scoffed, but mostly to herself rather than to Gali.

"—you completed your assignment. You don't have to be so down on yourself." Gali held out a fist to Kezoa. At first, Kezoa had no idea what Gali was trying to imply, but then Kezoa realized that Gali just meant to give her a knuckle bump. Kezoa smiled; that was what Zeke did when he was little; at a state championship Junior Soccer League, Kezoa's team had won a game, he had offered her the same gesture. Kezoa extended her fist and completed the action. Gali's expression suddenly switched to horror. She whipped out her axes and aimed them at Kezoa. She backed away and whirled around to see what could possibly cause Gali to turn on her.

After seeing what was behind her though, Kezoa could understand why.

"WAH!" Kezoa shrieked, she threw herself backward so fast she ran into Gali and they both toppled to the ground.

There behind Kezoa was the Rahi mutt.

The Rahi mutt bounced on its haunches when Kezoa had hurled herself backward, it grinned and panted and pranced from side to side like it was some kind of game, with its deadly stinger tail waving rapidly on the air from side to side. It whined excitedly and crouched down on its forepaws, staring at Kezoa expectantly. When she moved to get up, the Rahi gave out a quick yelp and jumped backward, but then hopped back when Kezoa remained frozen where she was.

"What the—?!" Matoro cried as the Matoran slowly backed away.

"How did it find me?!" Kezoa cried, she and Gali scrambled back to their feet and Kezoa held her hands out like she was trying to protect herself.

The Rahi whined again and leapt forward to give Kezoa a nudge, sending her backwards into Gali again, its tail still wagging.

"I think it likes you!" Jotak cried in shock.

Kezoa looked up at the Rahi. It looked back keenly.

Slowly, Kezoa walked forward with a hand far in front of her. The Rahi jumped and shook like an eager puppy, it yipped at her hand. It wasn't a threatening yip; it was more of a playful yip like she had a ball or some other sort of toy.

"Easy, b-boy…?" Kezoa whispered. When her fingers contacted the Rahi's muzzle, it seemed to smile and a thin grey tongue shot out like a snake's, caught on her body, and traveled upward to leave behind a trail of saliva in its big sloppy kiss. The first impulse Kezoa had was to wipe away the slobber from her mask, but when she did so the Rahi promptly replaced it with new spit.

"Hey, it _does _like you!" Illuden cried.

"Maybe it feels grateful that she saved it…?" Matoro muttered, placing a thoughtful finger on his chin.

Kezoa—though still a little disgusted at the slobber—smiled and began to scratch the Rahi's nose, wondering if it could feel it despite being entirely made of metal. It flopped down and flipped over onto its back, panting just like a dog would.

"Aww!" Kezoa crowed, rounding the Rahi's side and scratching the underside of his belly, "Can I keep him?!"

"Seriously?!" Matoro cried, "That thing's a dangerous Rahi! That stinger could knock you down or worse! Or, or—!"

"Oh, lighten up Matoro!" Kezoa scoffed, "Underneath it's just a big softie!"

Jotak and Illuden sniggered at this remark, but were silenced with a hard glare from Matoro.

"Kezoa, I repeat: that thing's a dangerous Rahi!" Matoro insisted.

"Since the Rahi is out of the purification labs, I see no harm in allowing her to keep it." Turaga Nokama noted.

"What?!"

"As long as she continues to keep it out of the purification labs, we don't mind either." Said a Ga-Matoran.

"WHAT?!"

"Oh, let her keep it, Matoro!" Jotak pushed, "Besides, it's not like she'd keep it in the Coliseum or something…"

Matoro sputtered, looking around in the crowd for help but found none. He looked from left to right expectantly, but finally gave in.

"Oh, fine! Whatever! Why are you even asking me in the first place…?" Matoro grumbled loudly, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away.

"YAY!" Kezoa cried, she hugged the Rahi tightly, "I'm going to give you a name!"

"A _name_?!" Matoro cried, he turned back to Kezoa and his arms flew outward in an exclamation of shock, "You're going to give it a _name_?!"

"Well, why not?" asked Kezoa, a little defensively. "I can't keep calling it 'Rahi mutt', now, can I?"

Matoro stuttered, waved his hands at her like he was dismissing her, and then planted them on his stocky little hips, "Well, fine, then! What do you plan to name it, then?"

"A name, huh?" Kezoa murmured. She looked down at the Rahi as she scratched its belly. Nothing good came to mind except for one thing: "Beowulf."

"Beo—what?"

"Beowulf!" Kezoa repeated, "It's the name of a famous warrior from where I come from. He was known to be exceptionally loyal and brave. He fought and defeated many monsters, so I thought Beowulf would be perfect for him!"

"Is that so?" Matoro cocked an eyebrow, he shrugged and waved it away, "Alright, whatever; it's yours, after all."

"Yay!"

"Here, let me give you some advice: whenever you need him, just whistle like this:"—Matoro put his fingers in his mouth and pitched out a high whistle. Beowulf flipped back onto his stomach and stared down at Matoro fixedly—"this'll catch his attention."

"When'd you make _that_ whistle?" Jotak asked Matoro in a hushed tone, but he went unanswered.

"Alright." Kezoa reached her arms around Beowulf and hugged him again.

"Are you sure you got that whistle?" Matoro asked again.

"_Yes_, I got it!" Kezoa insisted. The other Matoran began to cluster around Beowulf, reaching out to touch him and getting a wet lick in return. For a moment, Matoro watched the proceedings, and then he shrugged and joined the rest of the crowd.

()()()()()()

Meanwhile, unknown to all, they were watched over by Dion.

He sighed in relief as he watched Kezoa's mood finally lighten up with receiving ownership of the mutant Rahi. This was highly unusual; it had been almost two thousand years since a Toa had adopted a Rahi as his or her familiar. Regardless, Dion allowed himself to relax.

This was an extraordinarily close call; the Makuta had almost gotten his hands on the Spirit-Seeker, Kezoa. And if that had happened…Dion shivered just thinking about it.

Dion waved his hand and the portal that revealed the events relating to Kezoa and the group disappeared. He got up from his seat and walked away with a smile on his face.

It was a close call indeed, but it wasn't close enough. The Makuta would not triumph today.

* * *

AN: Bee-wolf… (Think about that for a minute). I must admit: the thought of a Matoran making a mad dash down the street with those stubby legs makes me giggle every time I think about it…

Also, the story from this point on may or may not necessarily comply with the canon Bionicle plot. Just so you know.

I _really_ need to make a personal deadline TT-TT


	6. Second Mission! A Ghost in Onu-Metru?

Disclaimer: I do not own Bionicle, or its parent company. This story was created for the entertainment of the writer and the readers and does not reflect anything on Bionicle, Lego, or any of its affiliates.

**AN**: From this point on, the story may or may not follow the canon plot of _Bionicle_. Just so you know.

* * *

The Archives of Onu-Metru were truly a sight to see. Onua looked up and around him at the surprisingly wide tunnels that made up the archives. Several of the cages that held creatures were busted open, the thick hexagon doors either hanging limply from their hinges or already fallen down to the floor. Some had decayed completely away, turning to dust even as Onua and a trio Onu-Matoran—Nuparu, Togab, and Skigak—held lightstones walked by, following Toa Onua closely beside or behind him.

Turaga Whenua assured that in the thousand year absence from Metru Nui all that had been there were probably forced out by an enormous horde of Visorak, who had been in turn banished from Metru Nui by the Toa Metru. However, when you're dealing with Rahi who were the majority of the time territorial there was no such thing as being over-prepared, as Toa Gali and Toa Kezoa could attest to when they had found a mutant Rahi dwelling in one of Ga-Metru's purification temples. Though the Rahi—now named "Beowulf"—had been calmed and tamed by Kezoa, odds were the Matoran and Toa Nuva weren't going to get lucky twice.

A stone clattered off of the ceiling to Onua's left and Togab shrieked and nearly dropped his stone, skittering away from the sound and slamming into Skigak.

"Hey! Watch it!" Skigak snapped, pushing Togab away.

"Didn't you _hear_ that?!" Togab hissed, coming up to Nuparu and hiding behind his back as they walked forward.

"It was just a stone, Togab." Nuparu sighed, shaking his head.

"But I swear—!"

"Leave it, Togab!" Skigak snapped again, hushing Togab to silence.

Regardless, Onua stopped and held up his hand. The Matoran halted and Onua scanned the vicinity for any traces of a threat. Again, there was no such thing as being over-prepared. They remained there for a pregnant pause as Onua ascertained that it was just indeed a rock and he gestured at the Matoran to follow him further downward. Just before he turned around Togab shot him a grateful smile. Onua walked forward, a little bit more careful about what he looked at and whether it was indeed just a pile of trash or if something was hiding underneath it. In the faint blue-green glow, things tended to get altered to look like things they are not.

The shadows here were particularly pronounced.

"Where are we now, Nuparu?" asked Onua without turning around. He heard Nuparu look down at his map and silently counted off something before he answered.

"We are about twenty or so bio away from the main city. If we keep going for another thirty more we will eventually enter the underground city."

The city that Turaga Whenua had told them about was far larger than the temporary settlement that the Onu-Matoran were currently stationed at. Toa Onua and his three companions were to find this city and see if it was worthy of inhabitation or if they were going to have to wait a little longer to find a safe new city for the Onu-Matoran. Onua hoped that this city would be commendable, but when you're in an island city that was halfway decayed as it was, there was no telling what was functional and what wasn't.

Though the island of Mata Nui had been ravaged by the Bohrok, meaning that there was no way that the island could be inhabited anymore, Onua found himself getting homesick. He missed the constant sound of his and the Matoran's tools clinking away at the hard stone around their village, searching for solid protodermis and building materials to be used around the villages. Though now, their caste was going to be chronicling the histories, Onua would still rather be digging than reading. It just wasn't his style.

"We're here!"

Onua snapped out of his self-pity and stopped where he was. The tunnel that they had gone through opened up into a huge room that, if the building was lying on its side, could fit about half of the coliseum; the faint light from the lightstones illuminated close by city structures, hidden deep underneath the surface of Onu-Metru. The city was really noting more that huge stalagmites reaching up towards the ceiling, made out of stone that shone either from water, glazing, or simply it being the type of mineral here. The city stretched out for a wide expansion of the area, at least as big as Onu-Koro had been when they were still on the island. Each stalagmite was tall enough that Onua knew that all eight Toa stacked atop one of another wouldn't even reach the top of the rock. The structures had been carved out centuries ago, and if Onua peered into a window he could see living quarters that had used to belong to a Matoran when the city was still inhabited.

Other than being in a state where it would take a long time to clean up, Onua could not see any indications that this underground metropolis could be inhabited by the Onu-Matoran.

"Togab, Nuparu, Skigak, what do you think?" Onua called, his voice booming in the echoing expanse of the city as the Matoran turned from whatever examinations they were doing.

"It seems inhabitable enough." Skigak assessed.

"There is some structural damage," Nuparu said, "but it won't be something that can't be fixed."

"Perfect!" Onua smiled, "Now all that's left is to—Togab, is there something wrong?"

Togab was staring at something down the street from where they were standing. The look on his face wasn't of fear; it was more of a wary curiosity. He pointed at where he was looking at.

"Toa Onua, what does that look like to you?"

Onua leaned to the side and peered down the street in the direction of where Togab was pointing to. There was a bi-pedal creature standing there, about the size of a Toa, staring at them. It wasn't very well defined; it was too far away for the light from the lamp to reveal its features. Onua edged his body in front of the group of the Matoran. Like he had figured earlier, when there were Rahi that tended to be more territorial than not, it was a good idea to be prepared for whatever happened next, and Onua wasn't about to put the Matoran of his Metru in danger. The creature stepped back quickly, like it was frightened by Onua.

It then disappeared.

Onua blinked.

"Did…did you all see that?" he asked the Matoran.

Before they had a chance to respond, Skigak suddenly screamed in fright and he tore off some random direction.

"SKIGAK!" Onua cried.

As he turned to go after Skigak, he caught sight of a black streak tearing across the air and tackling Nuparu to the ground, he howled and began to punch wildly. Onua lunged forward, grabbed whatever was on top of Nuparu, and threw it back into the city.

The creature flipped in the air twice, and then skid to a stop on its claws.

It didn't look like the creature Onua had seen down the alley; it was warped and there was something entirely wrong with it. It was _twice_ Onua's height—the armor was twisted and mangled in such a way that Onua wondered just how in Mata Nui's name this thing could stand up straight. Two rows of razor sharp teeth shone in the light cast by the lightstones, deep lacerations scraped the sides of the creature, deep into its armor. It walked on four feet instead of two, though it retained a bipedal quality, and the eyes of the creature were gleaming red.

"Nuparu, what is that thing?!"

"I'm not sure!" Nuparu cried as he got to his feet, "It could be another mutant!"

Onua pulled out his quake-breakers and slammed them against the ground, the ground shook beneath their feet and pillars of earth tore up the ground as the earth shock traversed across the ground and towards the creature. It crouched and then leaped up into the air, sailing up to the high top of the nearest stalagmite, avoiding the attack. The creature was not visible; the only thing about it that could be seen was its vibrantly glowing red eyes. Even though Onua could see very well in the dark, having been underground the majority of his life, there was something about the creature that evaded his overall superior vision.

"Togab, hold that light steady!" Onua barked, pulling out his quake-breakers and tensing, readying for another attack.

"Can't you see it well enough, Toa Onua?" asked Togab nervously as he and Nuparu neared Onua and hovered behind him, casting their eyes nervously about.

"A little," Onua responded, twitching at the sound of another pebble falling from the ceiling, "but I'm having trouble seeing this Rahi!"

Onua, Togab, and Nuparu leaped three feet into the air when Skigak's scream echoed back to them and suddenly he came tearing down the street at a high-pace towards them. And right behind him was the Rahi, reaching towards him.

"SKIGAK!" all three yelled.

Skigak suddenly tripped on something and he toppled flat onto the ground on his mask. The creature's arms closed into empty air and the momentum cast it forward and straight towards Onua. Togab and Nuparu howled and dove out of the way while Onua prepared for another attack.

But it never came.

The creature instead phased right through him, and Onua whirled around to see it vanish straight into the ground between a shocked Nuparu and Togab. They looked up at him with their mouths open and their eyes wide.

"Toa Onua, did you see that?!" Togab cried.

"I did!" Onua breathed. His thoughts turned to Skigak and he whirled around to see the Matoran climbing unsteadily to his feet. Onua sheathed his quake-breakers and strode towards him and knelt to the ground to help the Matoran to his feet.

"Are you alright, Skigak?"

"Yes, I'm fine!" Skigak snapped, "Other than getting the life scared out of me, I'm fine!"

"What was that thing?" asked Togab as he and Nuparu joined Onua and Skigak.

"I have absolutely no idea." Onua shook his head, "But until we figure it out, it'd be best to say that this place is uninhabitable."

"Wise decision." Nuparu nodded.

"Let's head back to the settlement already!" Skigak snapped, "I don't like this place."

Onua nodded and got to his feet. They took one step towards the exit of the city and Onua heard a faint whistling to his left. Before he had a chance to react, a splitting pain like that of an arrow shot through his side. He grunted and collapsed to the ground, holding the new injury.

"Toa Onua!" Skigak and Nuparu cried, they crouched next to him and reached for his wound to assess the damage.

Onua groaned in pain and looked up; suddenly he realized that there were only _two_ Matoran.

"Where's Togab?!" he cried.

"ONUA-A-A-A-A-A!"

Onua's head shot up in time to see Togab reaching for him in the arms of the strange creature, now leaping back and forth between the stalagmites away from them and deeper into the city.

"TOGAB!" Onua jumped to his feet, earning a sharp jab of pain from his injury; he grunted again and sank back down to his knees. Though his legs were fine, a good portion of his side had been injured, and in addition to that it had knocked the socket of his leg out of his hip.

The ground started to shake, it wasn't long before more than just mere pebbles were falling down from the city; good chunks of the ceiling and loose boulders were beginning to rain down upon them.

"Toa Onua, we must leave here!" Skigak cried.

"No! Not without Togab—!"

"You're injured, Toa Onua!" Nuparu took Onua's hand and pulled him to his feet as best as he could, "We cannot hope to rescue Togab in your current state!"

Onua cast his gaze behind him where he had seen Togab and the strange creature vanishing down the dark corridors of the city, he could still hear Togab's cry of terror in his ears. But as much as it hurt his pride and heart, Onua knew that if he wasn't in tip-top shape, he was not going to be very successful in saving Togab. The ceiling was also raining down upon them, which further reduced chances of getting help if they had managed to get themselves trapped within the city.

This reminded Onua of the time when he had accidentally caused a cave-in in Onu-Koro trying to trap the Rahkshi that had invaded the village, but this time was different. This was no Rahkshi attack, and that time he and Pohatu had managed to escape thanks to Kopaka, and the Matoran had evacuated when the Rahkshi had appeared in the village. No matter how Onua looked at it, unless he and the Matoran left the underground city and went back to get some help, they were all going to perish here.

"Ah, alright!" Onua grumbled, heaving himself to his feet and staggering towards the exit of the cave while Nuparu and Skigak ran alongside him.

They left the city, and as they tore down the tunnel with protodermis rocks raining behind them, Onua vowed to himself that he would save Togab no matter what happened next.

()()()()()()

"Trouble in Onu-Metru?" asked Kezoa. She looked up from her work and at Turaga Vakama, with Turaga Whenua standing beside him.

Kezoa had been working on a cable that had snapped some time ago, she was merging it with Regenerate disks in hopes that it would fix itself. So far, the process had worked until the Turaga's had confronted her with this unsettling news.

Turaga Whenua nodded gravely. "In searching for an underground city, Toa Onua and three Matoran encountered a strange creature, which is probable to be a Bokulax—a rare type of Rahi that isn't unheard of, but is uncommon regardless."

"What's a Bokulax?" asked Kezoa.

"The creature has been chronicled to be a semi-physical being." Vakama explained, "More often than not, it has the appearance of Rahi, but sometimes we get startling cases of a Bokulax looking like a Matoran or even a Toa. The Bokulax have extraordinary abilities that allow them to go through objects like they weren't even there, and some of them have the ability to grasp and manipulate objects at the same time. Bokulax are rare, as such there have never really been any detailed descriptions of them, and of the few cases we have they are all vastly different from one another."

"How different?"

"Very much so. One case had the Bokulax searching for a certain Matoran, and another case had a Bokulax seeking a Toa to save a Matoran who had fallen into a ditch. Two Matoran had fallen into the ditch, but only one was still alive when the Toa found them. And yet another had a Bokulax tearing up a city searching for an object that had belonged to a previously passed away Matoran."

Kezoa pursed her lips. "It sounds like a ghost." She said.

"What?"

"We have cases like those 'Bokulax' where I come from." Kezoa wrapped up the rest of the cable she was attending to and turned her full attention to the Turaga, "We call them ghosts. They're either physical or mental manifestations of the spirit of a passed away person or animal, and many of them in the same states as which you described earlier. Many people believe they're real, but many believe they're just hoaxes, or fakes."

"This certainly isn't a hoax." Whenua said gruffly.

"Have you ever dealt with a Bokulax, Kezoa?" asked Vakama.

"No. Haven't even seen one." Kezoa shook her head. When they lived in Los Angeles, before they had moved to the home that was now destroyed, Zeke claimed he saw a ghost of a woman in their attic. He claimed that she was looking for a necklace which she had hidden in Kezoa's room when Indians ripped apart her home.

Kezoa didn't believe Zeke. She had scoured the room from top to bottom and found no such necklace.

"Either way, though," Whenua turned to Vakama, "she's the only free Toa we have. Due to the restoration attempts, the other Toa are very busy dealing with their Metru's. Though they'll be completed very soon, we cannot afford to wait any longer. That, and based on Toa Gali's reports as well as the incident at the coliseum, Kezoa can see what can't be seen, and Toa Onua tells me that this Bokulax has the ability to turn invisible."

"Yes, this is true…" Vakama murmured, placing a finger on his chin.

"Is Onua and the Matoran alright, though?" asked Kezoa. She didn't know exactly why she asked that. She had a strange feeling that something had gone wrong.

Whenua and Vakama turned to her with uncertain looks on their faces. Then they turned to one another. They stared at each other for quite a while before Vakama nodded. Whenua turned to Kezoa and inhaled deeply.

"One of the Matoran from the team had been abducted by the Bokulax. In addition to that, Onua has been injured, though I'm told the injuries aren't fatal to his health."

"Abducted?!" Kezoa dropped the cable in her lap and shot to her feet, "You mean kidnapped?!"

"Depends on what 'kidnapped' is—"

"Doesn't matter!" Kezoa cried, she stepped forward and headed for the elevator, "I'm headed to Onu Metru. Ask Macku to finish the repair work on the cables for me!"

Vakama opened his mouth to object, but Kezoa had already stepped into the elevator and was rapidly descending towards the ground floor of the coliseum to attain transportation to Onu-Metru. Vakama sighed in exasperation and his hand dropped to his side.

"She's loyal; you have to give her that." Whenua tried.

"Yes," Vakama sighed, rubbing the space between his eyebrows, "but I'm worried it may get her into trouble later."

"Oh, were we so different?" asked Whenua, "She'll be fine. We faced the Makuta and we won. So have the Toa Nuva, and Kezoa has managed to defeat Maltegere not once but twice. I believe she's plenty capable of handling herself."

"I agree with you, Whenua," Vakama turned to his brother of earth, "but I recall that it was our brashness as Toa that we had gotten into plenty of troubles. Most of them we barely made out of alive. After all, do you remember the Morbuzakh?"

"Of course I remember; I was there!" Whenua said, "And I doubt that the Bokulax is _anything_ like the Morbuzakh."

()()()()()()

Kezoa was happy that the whistle Matoro taught her to summon Beowulf worked. She was now galloping along the underground highway towards Onu-Metru. Beowulf was not happy to be underground, and he often bucked whenever he heard a strange sound, but nonetheless he was willing to travel with her down to the depths of Onu-Metru. Kezoa looked at her surroundings. Being on a foreign world, she still had no idea where everything was, and being underground did not help any bit. Were they even close to Onu Metru?

"Whoa, Beowulf!" she called. He skid to a stop and completely threw Kezoa off of his back.

Kezoa flipped once in the air and landed on her back. She coughed and attempted to get air back into her lungs as Beowulf leaned over her and sniffed at her face.

"We need to work on your stopping, bud." She muttered, heaving herself onto her feet and looking around.

It was immensely dark inside the archives. Not only that, but there were doors everywhere and Kezoa wondered if maybe she was supposed to have gone through one or two of them a while back.

_I really wished I asked for directions before I left the coliseum_… Kezoa thought to herself as she looked around and tried to figure out where to next.

Ahead of her there was a three-way fork in the road, the one in the middle continued onward with seemingly no end in sight. Kezoa sighed and placed her hands on her hip. She looked back and began to wonder if whether returning to the coliseum and asking for directions was probably the best course of action.

Beowulf yelped and suddenly skittered off to the side like a scared spider. Kezoa whirled around, whipping out her spear and turning on her mask, thinking that it was the Bokulax. But it wasn't.

"Don't attack!" cried a figure, walking into Kezoa's view while waving his hands above his head, "I'm unarmed!"

Kezoa turned her mask power off and sheathed her spear as a black Matoran walk out of the left route in the fork of the road. He looked like Illuden and Jotak, but his voice was way off and there was something about him that reminded her of a certain someone…

"Are you Togab?" Kezoa ventured.

"No; I'm Nuparu." He answered, "But I was in the same group as Togab was. Turaga Whenua asked me to meet you and bring you to the temporary settlement at Onu-Metru."

"Wait—Turaga Whenua?!"

"Yes, he arrived at the settlement a few minutes ago. He had figured you hadn't arrived yet."

"What—that—ooh!" Kezoa growled, "He knew!"

"Knew what?"

"He knew I was coming; why didn't he give me directions?!"

"If anything," Nuparu suggested, turning back to the tunnel, "he said that you left too quickly."

"Ugh…" Kezoa muttered. She _had_ left too quickly. Next time she vowed she wouldn't be so rash.

"Follow me." Nuparu said, he waved a hand over his head and began to walk down the tunnel.

Kezoa started forward and Beowulf whimpered behind her. She turned to him and gestured backwards, "You can go home now, if you want."

Beowulf looked behind him and crouched to the ground, his ears back and his tail between his legs.

"Oh, fine." Kezoa sighed, "You can come."

Beowulf instantly perked up; he rose to his full height, his ears went up, and his stinger started to wave wildly and he gave her a big, fat sloppy wet kiss.

"Are you coming, Toa Kezoa?" she heard Nuparu call from the tunnel.

"Yes, yes, I'm coming." Kezoa said, she took Beowulf's nose in her hands and placed it on her shoulder as she walked forward. When she and Beowulf entered the tunnel, they found Nuparu waiting for them to catch up, and he promptly started walking when they had gone close enough.

Nuparu lead them through twisty and curvy tunnels, and Kezoa knew that several times that they had taken a tunnel that seemed like they were headed back for the surface, but each time Nuparu corrected their course and they went deeper into the earth with Beowulf close behind them, although he had calmed down considerably.

"Nuparu," she asked, "just how big are the archives?"

"I heard from Turaga Whenua that the archives span a good majority of the island city itself."

"A good ma—_seriously_?!"

"Yeah;" Nuparu grinned, he looked over his shoulder to Kezoa, "when I found you, you were somewhere under Po-Metru. Did you know that?"

"Under Po-Metru?!" Kezoa cried. Based on what she had heard from the Turaga and from the Matoran, Po-Metru was the carving district of the city, where all the carvings made from solid protodermis were created. It was where Pohatu and Turaga Onewa lived as well. Though Po-Metru and Onu-Metru were close to each other on the map—she had finally figured out which Metru was where, thankfully—the fact that she had been underneath Po-Metru and not Onu-Metru baffled Kezoa.

But then again, Kezoa's sense of direction was always terrible.

_I guess even this mask can't cure that_…Kezoa thought to herself mournfully._ Is the Makuta really sure he kidnapped the right girl_?

"We're here!"

Kezoa looked up and saw in front of her a vast camp of some sorts. There were small huts made out of stone that looked like they could house at least three if not more Matoran, which were milling around the campsite doing something-or-other things. She saw a good number of them repairing tools of some sort. Though the place was huge—the underground cavern they were in was large enough to fit five ten-story mansions inside this cavern—with stalagmites and stalactites hanging everywhere, Kezoa felt the place was rather…cramped.

"Tiny, huh?" Nuparu asked, as if hearing her thoughts, "There's no way that this little place is going to house an entire Koro's worth of Matoran. That's why it's essential that we get rid of this Bokulax and move to the underground city."

"I see." Kezoa breathed, looking around, "So this really is important, huh?"

"You bet it is." Nuparu nodded, "Come on; I'll take you to Turaga Whenua first. He's with Toa Onua in the sick hut."

Nuparu led her through the town, which wasn't very easy considering the amount of people there and Beowulf's size. It was funny, though, to see Beowulf legitimately trying to gingerly picking his way through the crowds. When they got to the hut where Whenua and Onua was, Beowulf was forced to sit outside the tent as Nuparu and Kezoa entered the hut, but she had to crouch to get inside.

She saw Onua lying on a flat slab of stone against the far end of the hut while Turaga Whenua sat next to him and was apparently in an avid conversation with another Onu-Matoran next to him. Onua saw Kezoa walk into the tent and he quickly righted himself to sit on the edge of the stone bed, but Kezoa had already seen the damage.

"Onua, your side!" she cried, already at her brother's side in five strides across the floor of the hut.

"Ah, I'm fine." Onua said, he grinned confidently and waved her off, "I've been through worse! Besides, Turaga Whenua tells me it's nothing."

"It really is." said the Turaga as Nuparu came to his and the other Matoran's side, "Most of the pain was coming from Toa Onua's dislocated hip. All that we had to do was put it back into place and replace the armor that had been knocked off and he's fine."

"Doesn't look like nothing." Kezoa objected, directing their attention to the bandages swathing Onua's side.

"That's to keep the swelling down." Said the other Matoran, he sounded harsh and crass at first glance.

"And you are?"

"Name's Skigak." He said, "Me and Nuparu were in the same team as Togab was."

"So I've heard."

"Yeah, and if you also recall, Skigak," Nuparu said, "You were the one who ran off screaming like a Rahi cub when the Bokulax showed up!"

"Shut up, Nuparu!" Skigak snapped, stepping towards Nuparu, "Like you were of any help either!"

"At least I didn't turn tail and run!" Nuparu responded. Though his earlier comment was light-hearted, he was now on confrontational mode; he stomped towards Skigak with his fist up as if he was ready to punch the other Matoran.

"Stop this immediately!" Turaga Whenua barked, stepping in between the two Matoran, "We cannot afford to argue at this time. It's absolutely crucial that we rescue Togab, and we cannot do that if you are both fighting over who gets the blame!"

"Turaga Whenua is right." Onua said, he heaved himself forward and was on his feet, "Right now we need to focus on getting Togab back."

"I agree." Kezoa said, "I've got Beowulf outside; lead me to where this happened."

()()()()()()

As a being of shadow, in addition to being equipped with the Kanohi Clocca, Maltegere's powers had many connections to the field of camouflage and workings of invisibility and bindings. Even better, he had the ability to rearrange his entire molecular structure to match the ephemeral qualities that belonged to the form of a cast silhouette. In layman's terms, it meant that Maltegere's Kanohi Clocca could turn him into a shadow.

Maltegere winced whenever he thought of his abilities in such simplistic terms. He frankly thought that simplicity was an insult to him and his gifts.

However, the majority of the people he worked with in the Brotherhood of Makuta were not as intelligent as he was. And clearly, all of them were far below Makuta Teridax's intelligence. A violent shudder ran through Maltegere when he thought of his master. He was severely reprimanded previously for allowing the Toa Kezoa to escape, in addition to allowing himself to be defeated by Rahi mutt (Maltegere liked to emphasize _allow_ when conversing of his failure, even thought it did not enhance the truth any better, which was that he was overpowered by a genetically superior Rahi), and it was a failure he was not planning on allowing to happen again.

Maltegere tapped his foot impatiently, the result of this caused the shadow at his feet to expand and ripple as if he was standing in a shallow pool of water, rather than atop of a cobblestone street of an abandoned city deep within Onu-Metru. He lifted his hand and exposed his palm towards him, displaying the mark of the Makuta that Teridax had so graciously given to him, marking him as a true Brother of Makuta.

He earned this when Mata Nui was put to sleep forever.

As Maltegere smiled at this memory, he heard a thrashing from behind him. He whirled around and barked at the bound Matoran at his feet.

"I told you to be quiet!" he snarled, his foot crashed in front of the gagged, terrified Matoran, dangerously close to his mask, "I warned you before: if you didn't remain silent I will not permit you to live. This is your final warning."

The Matoran looked up at him with bright green eyes and nodded. These eyes were filled with fear, but deep inside Maltegere saw a flicker of something else deep within the folds of the Matoran's absolute terror.

Anger.

_He could be a formidable ally, if that anger were allowed to fester and grow_. Maltegere noted to himself. He would have to watch the Matoran and see how he progressed.

If he got out alive, that is.

And Maltegere was almost certain that he would.

He heard a slithering sound behind him, and Maltegere turned to see who had approached. It was the Bokulax, who had been stranded inside of this city since the Great Cataclysm. When Toa Onua and three more Matoran had come to this underground city, Maltegere lay deep inside a shadow as he watched the Bokulax kidnap one of the Matoran and very nearly rip the Toa apart. This brought great pleasure to him, although it was increasingly difficult to work with a Bokulax.

Normally, Bokulax can't be communicated with. Particularly if it's the soul of a departed Rahi. But this Bokulax was not a Rahi, though it looked very much like one.

"_What have you to report?_" Maltegere grumbled, on a frequency only the Bokulax could hear and respond.

"_I sense creatures coming to the city_." The Bokulax answered, "_A Rahi, two Matoran, and two more. Except these two are taller than the others._"

"Tall Matoran…" Maltegere turned around to the Matoran, feet bound and hands trussed behind his back, and grinned at him, "Your saviors are on their way. Though Kezoa brought her Rahi pet. I didn't predict that."

The Matoran thrashed about some more, more violently than ever before, until his gag had managed to come loose enough.

"Whatever you or your master are planning, Makuta," the Matoran spat, "the Toa _will_ stop you! Toa Kezoa has done it once and she will do it again!"

Maltegere just grinned again, and then flicked his wrist and his shadow bonds sprouted from the ground and wrapped themselves tightly around the Matoran's mouth, more tightly than the roped protodermis had. Maltegere turned to the Bokulax, which had started to sway slightly, looking down at the ground with a distant look in its unearthly eyes.

"_Bokulax, why are you here?_" Maltegere questioned the creature; it looked up at Maltegere, some "life" coming back into its gaze.

"_This is my home._" The Bokulax responded, mechanically, as if it has said it a thousand times already.

"_Correct_." Maltegere continued, "_These people…these 'tall Matoran'…they intend on forcibly removing you from your home._"

"_Never!_" the Bokulax snarled, earning a jolt from the Matoran.

"_It won't matter what you feel. These people do not care for anyone but themselves. They will remove you from this place and take you somewhere far, far away._"

"NEVER!" this time it roared, the Bokulax suddenly evolved form its normal, placid form into its aggressive manner, its size doubling a Toa's and its armor mutating colors and shapes.

Maltegere smirked, "_Then prove it._"

The Bokulax howled again. It turned around and thundered out of the alleyway Maltegere and the Matoran were in, and began to run over to where it heard the intruders coming.

Maltegere crossed his arms over his chest and smiled. _Let's see how you think of _this_, my dear little Kezoa_. Maltegere thought.

And then he waited.

()()()()()()

Surprisingly, all four of them could fit on Beowulf's back. Although, this may have been because there were only two Matoran and two Toa. Beowulf was starting to become increasingly skittish, and Kezoa was nervous that he was frightened enough that he might bolt off on them any time soon.

"How much farther do we have, Skigak?" Kezoa asked over her shoulder.

"About twenty bio away." Skigak said.

It took a moment for Kezoa to register what he just said, and that their measurement system was different from hers. Kezoa turned back to steering Beowulf and decided that they would get there when they got there. To Kezoa's relief, it wasn't very far. When Kezoa turned a corner, Beowulf's nose almost collided with a huge bolder, fallen at the foot of a whole wall of debris and stones. Kezoa pulled back the reins on Beowulf and looked up at the huge wall and whistled loudly in disbelief.

"How are we going to get past _that_?" she asked as all four of them disembarked and Beowulf was free to dance around nervously, "Are you sure we didn't take a wrong turn?"

"The city was beginning to cave in when we left." Skigak responded, "Didn't think it'd get _this _bad, though…"

"We'll just hafta break through, then!" Onua declared. He strode past Kezoa and the Matoran and pulled out his Quake-Breakers (which looked to Kezoa like the treads on a tank) and plunged them into the wall of fallen rocks.

Beowulf started to go crazy; he whined and started to nip at Kezoa's arm.

"Shh!" Kezoa hissed, waving Beowulf away who pulled back with a dejected look on his face, "It'll be okay, boy!" Kezoa tried to assure him.

Beowulf whined again in response.

There was a bone-shaking hum, and then an earth-shattering _KA-WRAAAM_ before the wall of rocks gave way, parting like Moses and the Red Sea on either side of Onua, Kezoa, and the Matoran. Nuparu and Skigak skittered away from the boulders, then ran over to Kezoa and hid behind her legs. When the stones ceased falling, Kezoa walked to Onua's side and looked into the entrance into the underground city.

Compared to the temporary settlement that the Matoran were currently stationed at, this expanse of space and large buildings would be a welcome change from the cramped quarters that the Matoran had to share.

"Let's get this over with." Skigak shuddered as he and Nuparu walked past Kezoa and Onua into the settlement, "I don't like this place." He added.

Stepping into the underground city, Kezoa felt a cold, electric feeling watch over her. Like an ice-cube was shoved down her back, Kezoa gasped and froze where she was.

"Something wrong?" asked Onua, he looked around and then whipped up his quake-breakers in a guarding stance, "Is it the Bokulax?!"

"I—I don't know…" Kezoa murmured, "What…?"

Beowulf uttered a screeching warning cry.

Kezoa's head jerked up and all of a sudden she saw a grotesque werewolf-looking black creature—easily twice her size—come barreling down at her as if it had leapt from atop a building, its wicked sharp teeth and long claws outstretched.

"IT'S THE BOKULAX!" Onua screamed.

Kezoa dove to the left, and as she did, Beowulf careened over her from the right and slammed into the Bokulax with a hard _WHAMM_!

She tumbled across the cobblestone street and landed on a foot and knee. She looked up to see Beowulf had tackled the Bokulax to the ground and was now engaged in combat with the smaller Rahi, but it wasn't about to make it easy for him.

The Bokulax snarled from underneath Beowulf's paws and threw a hard swipe; the impact flung Beowulf off of the Bokulax in the direction of the force, and Beowulf skidded across the stones but recovered quickly, shooting forward at a full gallop. The Bokulax appeared to brace itself for impact, but instead of tackling it to the ground, Beowulf flew straight through the Bokulax and raced at a full gallop towards Onua and the Matoran.

Onua yelled and wrapped the Matoran in his arms before diving out of the way as Beowulf shot past him and slammed into the building where they had been moments ago.

The Bokulax shrieked at Beowulf, its long pink tongue flinging wildly and its mouth glowing from some internal light source.

Beowulf pulled himself out of the building, shook the stars out of his head, and hunched low to the ground, snarling at the Bokulax. The two creatures stared each other down, snarling and snapping at one another until Beowulf finally made a move; he sprang forward at impossible speeds towards the Bokulax, which appeared to brace itself for impact again.

Just before Beowulf made impact, he abruptly turned to the left of the Bokulax and stopped running, skidding across the cobblestones until he was behind the Bokulax, which whirled around in surprise but got a good hard bite in the cheek from the blade tip of Beowulf's whip-like tail.

"Good boy, Beowulf!" Kezoa shrieked, pumping her fists in the air and jumping up and down wildly.

The Bokulax went down hard, but it skittered back up to its feet and held a hand to its new wound before snarling and leaping up to the top of the stalagmite buildings.

"Where'd it go?!" Kezoa heard Onua demand.

"I don't know; I can't see it!" she yelled back, her eyes darting around her surroundings. She saw a flicker out of the corner of her eye, on top of a building. She whirled around and saw the faint silhouette of the Bokulax crouching on top of the building, as if prepping to strike.

"ONUA! THERE!" Kezoa screamed.

"WHERE?!" Onua yelled, whirling around.

Kezoa looked from Onua to the Bokulax, which had leapt onto another building. Closer to Onua.

"_There_! _Th-th_—! IT'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU! IT—!"

"_I can't see it, Kezoa_!" Onua boomed, whirling around and glaring down all the wrong places.

The Bokulax crouched upon its haunches on the building behind Onua, its shoulders rotated and it suddenly coiled to spring.

"ONUA-A-A-A-A!" Kezoa shrilled. She sprang at the instant the Bokulax did, her arms outstretched.

She hurled into Onua hard, and he went sprawling just as the Bokulax arrived at his point of impact and rammed into Kezoa.

Kezoa whipped out her spear and shoved it into the Bokulax's chest. It howled in pain and tried to pull back, but somehow Kezoa's blade had gotten stuck inside its shoulder and Kezoa wasn't about to let it take her away. Kezoa grunted as she pulled, trying to get her spear out of the Bokulax. Kezoa pulled her legs out from under the Bokulax and gave the creature a good hard kick in the sternum.

The force of the kick worked, and suddenly Kezoa's spear was free from the Bokulax. It shrieked in pain and galloped away, deeper into the city.

"Kezoa!" Onua thundered over to her and helped her up. Kezoa rubbed her right arm, trying to soothe the muscles that were now strained from trying to pull out the spear.

"How did you—? I couldn't—! What—?!" Onua sputtered.

"What are you talking about?" Kezoa asked, out of breath.

"How could you see the Bokulax?" Nuparu asked as he and Skigak came up behind her.

"If Toa Onua couldn't see it, how could you?" Skigak added.

Kezoa touched her mask, "It was this thing."

"Your mask?"

Kezoa nodded, "It is how I was able to beat Maltegere. I could _see_ what he didn't want me to see."

"Her Toa power is to see the invisible?" Nuparu breathed, "I've never heard of a power like that…"

"Do you think the Bokulax will be coming back?" asked Skigak, eying the street that it had ran down.

"I don't think so." Kezoa said, "I hurt it pretty badly; my spear sunk in pretty far."

"I don't get that…" Onua grumbled as he scratched his head, "One minute it's physical, the next it's not. Bokulax aren't real things, right? How could it go through things one second like it's a gust of air, but the next one be as solid as a rock of protodermis?"

Kezoa frowned. It was confusing.

"More importantly," Nuparu piped in, "we still have to focus on finding Togab."

"Yes, this matter takes precedence over some selectively-permeable Bokulax." Skigak agreed, "Let's find him first before we take out this Bokulax."

"I agree with Skigak and Nuparu." Onua nodded, "Kezoa, what say you?"

"I agree." Kezoa said. "We should split up; that'll make it easier."

Onua cocked an eyebrow at her. "Are you sure?"

Kezoa glared at him defiantly, "I can take care of myself!"

For a moment, Onua stared at her disbelievingly, and then he sighed and shook his head. "Alright, then. We'll split up. Skigak, you're with me. Nuparu, you're with Kezoa." Onua directed, "Let's find Togab, and rendezvous back here."

()()()()()()()()()()

"Any hint to finding Togab would be useful right now…" Nuparu sighed as he and Kezoa rifled through some rubble.

"Like what?" asked Kezoa, "We don't have anything to go on. The Bokulax is gone, so what can we possibly do to find him?"

"I don't know; which is why I said '_any_ hint'."

"Alright."

Kezoa lifted up a lid to a large, square can. There was nothing in it except rocks. She sighed and put the lid back on, then moved on to the next pile of debris.

"Toa Kezoa?"

"Yes?" Kezoa turned to the Matoran, who had kept on searching through the garbage.

"We'll find him…right?" he asked.

Kezoa stared at Nuparu's back for a time, and then turned back to her own pile and continued hunting.

"We'll find him." Kezoa whispered.

_It might be easier if you used your mask_.

Kezoa's head shot up. That flicker that indicated Dion's presence was sparking in a street a block away. It hovered for a moment, and then went behind a corner into another street.

"Uh…I'm going to go look over there." Kezoa told Nuparu. He looked up as Kezoa started to run down the street towards where Dion had gone.

"Wha—where are you going?!" he called.

"Hold on; I'll be right back!" Kezoa yelled over her shoulder as she turned the corner and switched her mask on.

Dion's wavering form stood about three feet away from her; she jumped back and almost stumbled to the ground.

"GAH! What are you doing here, Dion?!"

_I'm here to help_. Dion said. _You should know, Spirit-Seeker, that your mask does more than just see the invisible_.

"What do you mean?"

_As a matter of fact, it's not even the invisible you actually _see_, with your mask working. What you're seeing is their aural pulse; their very life-force, if you will_.

"Aural pulse? Like hearing?"

_No, not hearing. Every life form has an energy signature, an aural pulse…even a reduced, wretched creature such as a Bokulax. Though reduced, however, his will and aural pulse is so strong it has allowed him to reconstitute his physical state at will._

"Is that why we could touch it sometimes? And why I could see it but Onua couldn't?"

_Yes. As advanced as Onua's sight is, having lived in the underground for the majority of his life, he cannot see the Bokulax when it doesn't want to be seen._

"Like when it becomes a spirit…"

_Exactly. But _you_ can, because your mask enables you to do so._

"So how can this help me in my current situation?"

_You injured the Bokulax, yes?_

"Yes…"

_Take out your spear_.

Kezoa reached behind her and pulled out her spear. In her enhanced vision, she could see the faint line of shadow on the spear's edge, but there was something else too…

"What's this green gunk?" she asked, pointing to it on her spear.

_The aural essence of the Bokulax_. Dion answered simply.

"So this is…ghost blood?" Kezoa grimaced.

_You could say that. Anyway, what you need to do is focus on the essence of the Bokulax. Soon, you'll find that you can follow a trail that it has inadvertently left behind when its aural essence permeated the surroundings around it._

Kezoa focused on the green stuff, as Dion directed. She felt a distinct impression to turn around, and when she did, she encountered a green streak of light hovering above the ground that was the exact color as the green gunk on her spear.

_Do you see it, Spirit-Seeker_?

"Yes, yes I do!" Kezoa cried, starting forward towards the green path of light, "Will this lead me to Togab?"

_I'm not sure, but it will definitely lead you to the Bokulax. Find it…and put it out of its misery._

Kezoa halted. She turned back around to Dion.

"What do you mean, 'put it out of its misery'?"

Dion stared at her sadly, and then explained what he meant.

()()()()()()()()()()

Kezoa raced down the streets, following the light path that the Bokulax had accidentally made when it had landed on her spear. As she sprinted, she clenched her teeth and the hand around her spear at recalling what Dion had explained to her. It made some sense, as to why the Bokulax attacked Onua and the Matoran, but not why it had kidnapped Togab.

She suspected there was something more to this mystery.

_And I bet I know what it is_. Kezoa growled to herself.

She turned a corner, and suddenly it was there.

The Bokulax whirled around at her arrival; it was in a different form, much smaller and lighter in color than when Kezoa first saw it, and it had brilliant blue eyes. When Kezoa arrived, those electronic eyes widened, then turned to red and narrowed. Its coat turned dark and its body swelled and mutated until it became the Bokulax that Kezoa knew.

"Found you." Kezoa told it.

The Bokulax howled at her, and then lunged. Kezoa ducked and easily dodged it as it slammed into the ground, but since it had no weight it did not leave any force of impact. It flipped around and tried to attack again, but Kezoa rolled away from its assault and sliced upward at the Bokulax. It slit the side of it and more green substance covered her spear. The Bokulax howled, and as it did, something resonated within Kezoa's ears. She remembered what Dion had directed her to do and attempted to synchronize her mask to that frequency.

It was difficult; particularly when you're fighting with what you're trying to communicate.

However, Kezoa felt the resonance connect and she made out what the Bokulax was roaring at her:

"LEAVE! LEAVE THIS PLACE! THIS IS MY TERRITORY! MINE!"

"_I want to help you_!" Kezoa cried.

The Bokulax ceased, obviously startled. Kezoa stood up and dropped her spear, spreading her arms and legs wide to show that she meant no harm.

"_I want to help_." Kezoa said again.

The Bokulax stared at her, with those wide eyes, but suddenly they narrowed and Kezoa was thrown hard across the street and into a building. She yelped in pain and fell to the ground, holding an arm around her stomach. As she tried to get up, the Bokulax sprinted over to her and slammed a huge paw into her chest, pummeling her to the ground. Her head hit the street and sparks flew in front of her vision, and the Bokulax's words suddenly became warbled roars and growls.

Kezoa groaned and turned her mask back on. It sputtered, and with some resistance it finally turned back on. Kezoa tried the frequency again, and the Bokulax's words came back to her, in mid-stream:

"—_Liar! Liar! You're a liar! Shadow-friend told me! He told me you were going to take my territory! He—_!"

"_You mean Makuta Maltegere_?" Kezoa strained. The Bokulax faltered, and then sputtered.

"_Yeah, you know who I'm talking about, don't you…Toa Kellal_?"

The Bokulax's eyes switched back to blue. Suddenly, the form of the Bokulax transformed and it was no longer a Rahi-like creature crouched over Kezoa, but a black Toa with vibrant blue eyes.

"How…do you know me?" Toa Kellal whispered.

Kezoa sighed in relief and switched her mask off. She could still see him, as if he were as alive as she was, but now he was talking on a normal frequency.

"I have a friend who told me." Kezoa explained, "A terrible earthquake happened a long time ago, right? It destroyed nearly a quarter of the archives and a third of the cities. You were trying to evacuate the Matoran from this city, and you did so by transforming into an Ash Bear for transport, using your Kanohi Mahiki; the mask of illusion. You took that form and evacuated the Matoran, but then you were crushed by that boulder behind you. Am I right?"

Toa Kellal cast a glance over his shoulder. Kezoa followed his gaze and saw the dismembered hand of his Toa body sticking out from underneath a collapsed boulder.

"When you landed on my spear, you came back here to try to heal, because your soul heals faster when you're near your body." Kezoa ventured.

Kellal turned away from his body with a pained expression. He released Kezoa and stood up, Kezoa following his actions. The earth Toa looked away from Kezoa and stared at his hand.

"I didn't know I was dead. I had no idea." Kellal muttered, "It's been so long, I don't know what I thought. But I do remember realizing I was dead. But for some reason, I couldn't…I couldn't…"

"Depart?" Kezoa tried.

Kellal nodded, "I lost track of time; I have no idea how long I have been wandering around this city, trying to find a way out, when Makuta Maltegere came to me. I was so desperate to get out; I didn't even know consciously who I was making the deal with."

"Deal? What deal?"

Kellal turned back to Kezoa, "There would be a Toa and three Matoran coming to the city. He told me they were going to take my city away from me, and force me out. I didn't want it to happen. So I…"

"Kidnapped Togab."

"That's his name?" asked Kellal, "I'm so sorry. I didn't—"

"It's not your fault, Toa Kellal." Kezoa assured, she placed a hand on his shoulder, and was surprised to find that he felt solid beneath her fingers, "You weren't yourself. Tell me where Maltegere and Togab are."

Kellal sighed deeply, then he turned around and pointed south-west of their direction, "He and Togab are there."

"Perfect." Kezoa leaned over and picked up her spear and began to walk in that direction.

"He's expecting you, Toa Kezoa!"

Kezoa halted and turned around to him.

"How do you know my name?"

"Makuta Maltegere is expecting you." Kellal explained, "I've heard your name spoken from his mouth many times. He knows your coming."

"So much for the element of surprise…" Kezoa grumbled.

"Maybe not from you," Kellal started, "but what about from me?"

()()()()()()()()()()

Maltegere frowned. This was taking longer than expected.

He cast a glance over his shoulder at the now unconscious Matoran Togab. He had tried to escape a few minutes ago, and all that it got him was a swift kick to the mask. Maltegere's kick had cracked it, and effectively shoved Togab into a state of inactivity.

Maltegere growled and turned back to the city.

"Where the Makuta is that blasted Bokulax?!" He hissed, "It couldn't have taken _this_ long to—!"

A scrabbling of stones snapped Maltegere out of his tirade. He twisted around and saw the hostile form of the Bokulax staggering up the hill, a deep wound in its shoulder.

"_No doubt you have come into contact with the Toa_?" Maltegere asked it. He heard the Matoran behind him groan and begin to stir. Oh well, maybe now was a perfect time for him to wake up; after all, he was going to find out that his only hope of rescue had been killed by this monster.

"_Yes. I have._" It responded.

Maltegere frowned again. Something was different…

"_Have you defeated all of them?_"

"_Yes. All of them are dead._"

"NO!" the Matoran screamed, "NO! No, you're lying! They can't be—!"

"_Shut up_! Or I'll kick you again! And this time I _will_ break your mask!"

The Matoran whimpered and curled into a ball. Maltegere opened his mouth to speak again when he realized something.

The Matoranheard and _understood_ the Bokulax.

As Maltegere tried to wrap his mind around this impossibility, suddenly a purple and orange streak careened over the Bokulax's back and slammed hard into Maltegere, forcing him to the ground. The wind was blown out of Maltegere's body and he found the tip of Kezoa's spear pointed at his heart-stone.

"Honey, I'm home!" Kezoa sang gleefully, she leaned in closer to Maltegere's face and grinned, "Miss me, sweetheart?"

"Toa Kezoa!" the Matoran cried joyfully, thrashing around.

"Keep away, Togab!" Kezoa ordered, without taking her eyes of Maltegere, "Kellal, get him to safety!"

"I'll do my best."

Maltegere sputtered when he saw the Bokulax shift from a mutated Ash Bear to his true Toa form before he walked over to Togab and began to loosen the Matoran's bonds.

"No—but how?!" Maltegere cried, "How did you—?!"

"A little birdie told me." Kezoa grinned.

Maltegere snarled at this realization. He had _missed_ it! His hand flew up into Kezoa's face and he blasted a shadow ball into her mask.

As she rocketed off of his body, Toa Kellal flipped over to Maltegere but found the Makuta diving for him. Kellal yelped in surprise and threw an arm over his face while shoving Togab out of the way as Maltegere slammed into Kellal and the two rolled off of the stone perch and into a plaza far below.

When the two landed on the ground, Maltegere turned to face the Toa but had found that he had disappeared.

"Where did you go, you little—?!" Maltegere snarled. He was cut off by Kezoa, who had lunged onto him from behind and had hopped onto his back.

Maltegere screamed in fury and clawed furiously at her, trying to get her off of his back.

"I'll make you pay for this you little WENCH!" Maltegere shrieked, he grabbed a hold of Kezoa's shoulders and threw her off of his back and into the ground some feet away from him. Kezoa huffed and tried to get to her feet.

Maltegere formed a shadow spear and hefted it in his hand. He took aim and threw it hard in the direction of Kezoa. Her eyes widened in glorious terror as the spear came closer and closer.

A black shape suddenly surged in front of her and the spear stopped short.

"KELLAL!" Kezoa screamed.

The Toa had taken the full brunt of the attack; the spear was a good halfway into his chest. The Toa started, and then collapsed to the ground.

"Kellal!" Kezoa screamed again, taking him into her arms.

"Serves the treacherous wretch right!" Maltegere growled, he stalked over to the two Toa and raised his fist high above his head. Another shadow harpoon came into being in his fist and he aimed it more carefully this time, straight at Toa Kezoa's heart, "Now, you'll join him!"

Maltegere threw the harpoon down, but before it could leave his grasp he felt a searing pain in his throwing arm.

He started, then discovered that the shadow spear—the one that had been lodged in Kellal—was now speared through his arm.

Maltegere sputtered again, he saw that Kellal was smiling triumphantly, a hollow hole in his chest where the spear had once been.

"You forgot, Makuta;" Kellal grinned, "you can't kill a spirit!"

Maltegere pulled away from the Toa, the spear and the harpoon vanished and Kellal curled his fingers into a fist and slammed his knuckles into the ground. The ground started shaking wildly, and before Maltegere knew it great spires of stone erupted from the floor of the cave, aiming to impale Maltegere. Maltegere jumped upward and used the spikes forward momentum to take himself higher and away from his attackers until in the maze of stalactites he could not be seen anymore.

"Kellal, are you alright?!" Kezoa demanded as she helped him to his feet.

"THAT WAS INCREDIBLE!"

Kezoa whipped around and saw Togab skidding down the near vertical side of the boulder, rocketing towards them as fast as he could, "I saw the whole thing! That was amazing! Oh, you guys should have seen the look on his _mask_—!"

"Not now, Togab, Kellal's hurt!" Kezoa cut in.

"Hurt?" Togab skidded to a stop in front of the two Toa, "Doesn't look that way to me…"

Kezoa turned and saw the hole in Kellal's torso disappearing until he looked unmarred as before.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot…" Kezoa grumbled.

Kellal grinned, "You can't kill someone who's already dead. Can't hurt them, either."

"Yeah. I noticed." Kezoa gave Kellal a friendly punch in the shoulder, but her fist phased right through, "Oh!"

"It's fine." Kellal said, even as his form began to loose opacity, "I'm good now. Thank you for freeing me."

"Wait! Kellal! What about—?!"

"Bury my remains here. So that I can watch over this city and the Matoran…" Kellal grew even more translucent, until he became nothing but air and his voice faded away into nothing.

For a moment, Kezoa and Togab stood there, staring at the spot where Kellal had been moments before.

"Whoa…" Togab breathed.

Kezoa heard a scrabbling on stone, and she whirled around and saw a shadowy form beginning to slither away from the scene.

"Maltegere!" Kezoa yowled, pulling out her spear and chucked it as hard as she could at him.

The Makuta turned toward her just as she threw her spear; he ducked wildly and threw a ball of shadow at her. Kezoa dipped to the ground and the ball of shadow hit a building behind her, shattering the wall partially and raining protodermis chunks down on her. But when she got back up Maltegere had disappeared. Kezoa threw her head around wildly, searching for him, until she saw a ribbon of shadow slinking away from the city.

"What the heck?!" Kezoa yelled after him, she picked a chunk of debris and hurled it at him as hard as she could at his receding shadow, "COME BACK HERE, YOU COWARD!"

The rock fell a foot short of his tail, missing him. He melted over a ridge and into the cave darkness of the archives.

"GRR!"

"Let him go, Kezoa." Togab said, coming up next to her, "The Makuta are like that."

"All Makuta?" asked Kezoa.

"Not all. But some." Togab said, he looked up at her and grinned, "He probably knew he was going to get his sorry tail kicked."

Kezoa grinned back at him, "Come on. Let's get back to the others."

()()()()()()

Onua whirled around when he heard footsteps behind him. His Quake-Breakers were out faster than the flash of a heartstone and Skigak and Nuparu whirled around to see what came out of the shadows.

Kezoa was climbed up the street, her spear functioning as a walking stick. Onua sighed and relaxed.

"There you are!" he cried, walking forward, "When Nuparu came back alone we were worried that the Bokulax—"

Onua froze when Togab appeared, climbing up the street next to Kezoa. The Matoran looked up and saw Onua, Skigak, and Nuparu and waved wildly.

"Hey, guys!" he called, "I'm okay!"

Skigak and Nuparu shot by Onua like Gukko birds that had just spied a ripe berry and swarmed around Togab.

"Togab!" they yelled, their words overlapping and jumbling with one another, "What happened to you?"

As Togab explained what happened, Kezoa came to Onua and nudged his undamaged side.

"See?" she said, "I told you I can handle myself."

"Looks like." Onua grinned; he reached out and gave Kezoa an approving slap on her back. She surged forward upon impact, almost falling over onto the street, "Well done!"

"Thank you…?" Kezoa wheezed, reaching behind and rubbing the impact zone on her spine.

"Toa Kezoa!"

Onua and Kezoa looked up as Skigak ran over to them, puffing in excitement.

"Is it true?!" he cried, "Is the Bokulax really the soul of a departed Toa?!"

"_Was_." Kezoa corrected, "He's not someone we have to worry about anymore."

"Why not?"

"I helped him pass on peacefully." Kezoa said, "It wasn't really that hard. All he wanted was to do was to protect his city."

"That's it?" asked Skigak.

Kezoa smiled and nodded.

"Well!" Skigak puffed as Togab and Nuparu walked up beside him.

"I'd say a mission accomplished, wouldn't you, Skigak?" asked Nuparu, he nudged the Matoran teasingly with his elbow. Skigak recoiled and shot Nuparu a sneer.

"So, Skigak," Kezoa sliced in, "now that the Bokulax has been taken care of, you think that this city is inhabitable?"

Skigak turned to Kezoa. He flashed Nuparu another sneer and then responded to her question:

"Yes, now that the Bokulax has been exorcised, I believe this city can now be inhabited." Skigak answered, "Of course, we'll have to repair damage done to the city—"

"I'm just glad it's finally over!" Togab cried exasperatingly, he tipped backward and flopped onto his back like he was making a snow angel, "Can we just get back to the settlement, already? I'm so exhausted!"

Skigak sputtered at his interruption, but before he could start up another argument Onua intervened.

"That's a good idea, Togab!" he boomed, "Let's get back to the settlement before the other Matoran and Turaga Whenua start worrying about us!"

"Fine." Skigak grumbled. Togab lifted himself to a standing position with Nuparu's help, and as the group left Kezoa felt Dion's presence hover about her again.

She froze where she was and looked behind her. There it was…a faint silver glimmer in the air that could be seen even when her mask power was turned off.

"Kezoa?"

She turned back around and saw Onua look at her confusedly.

"I'll be right behind you." She said, gesturing, "Get to Beowulf; I'm sure he's freaked out of his mind right now."

Onua nodded and followed the three Matoran out of the city. She pivoted on her heels back where she saw the silver glimmer and turned on her mask power. The city became ultra-HD again and Kezoa saw Dion standing about five feet away from her.

"Hey, thanks Dion." She said, grinning. "You really helped me out."

Dion smiled back at her. _It was no problem, Spirit-Seeker. I am glad I could be of use._

()()()()()()

Maltegere watched as Kezoa and Dion spoke to one another. She wasn't the only one who could see the member of Mata Nui's council.

He watched very closely as the Toa and the member said their goodbyes and Kezoa left while the council member watched her depart. When she exited the city, the member vanished into thin air.

Quick as a whip, Maltegere sent out a frequency that bounced like sonar, the sound vibrated back into his oral receptors and the echo was committed to memory.

Maltegere smirked, and then slunk back into the shadows.

* * *

AN: (Pretty big chapter…) I'm fairly certain that bio and kio and mioo are the Bionicle's form of measurement. Though I'm not sure what they add up to in human terms.

Plus, the Bokulax is my own creation. You won't find it anywhere, I'm sure.

Good news! I finally have the story planned and mapped out; now all that's left is actually writing the chapters.

Reviews and comments are very much welcome!

Until next time, Anime-Mecha Fan, signing off!


	7. Temple Excursion! What is a Codrex?

Disclaimer: I do not own Bionicle, or its parent company. This story was created for the entertainment of the writer and the readers and does not reflect anything on Bionicle, Lego, or any of its affiliates.

* * *

Despite having been in Ga-Metru before, it wasn't a surprise that Kezoa had managed to get herself lost. She looked at her map of the Metru and scratched the top of her mask. She _still_ couldn't read the symbols that were the Matoran's alphabet, and it was severely hindering her progress. She thought she could just mark a path and take turns when needed, but apparently that wasn't working as she was now leaning against a building of some Matoran's quarters as she tried to figure out where she took a wrong turn. The streets of Ga-Metru were bustling with Matoran from all over Metru Nui—though most of them were from Ga-Metru—and there was a comfortable feeling of controlled chaos.

Even so, as she looked around at all the signs she found that she could not associate any familiar sights with those on the map.

"Great. I _am_ lost." Kezoa grumbled. She almost crumpled the paper into a ball in frustration when a Ga-Matoran tripped over her foot. The Matoran squeaked in surprise and toppled over, the pack they were carrying went spewing forward and its contents—chunks of some kind of rock-like material shaped into tablets—tumbling forward.

"Oh, jeez!" Kezoa cried, she crouched over and helped the Matoran on her feet and dusted her off quickly before scrambling after her pack and items. "I'm so sorry! I didn't see you!"

"That's okay," said the Matoran, stooping over and scooping up her pack and depositing tablets within it, "I didn't see you either. I've got a big pack."

Kezoa picked up the last tablet and was about to put it in the Matoran's bag when she caught sight of the inscriptions upon it. Black markings were etched into the surface—in the Matoran's alphabet—but looked to be like some sort of record.

"What is this, anyway?" she asked as she showed it to the Matoran.

"It's a tablet." The Matoran said as she took it from Kezoa and placed it in her pack.

"I know that." Kezoa said, "But what's it for?"

"I'm the Chronicler; I document occurrences in the city." The Matoran said, "Takua used to be, but he became Toa Takanuva, so I took his place."

"Oh, Takanuva?" asked Kezoa, "I had a summons from him to come to the Great Temple, but I can't seem to find it. Do you know where it is?"

"Of course I do! I'm headed there myself for the same reasons." the Matoran said, heaving her pack into her arms. It almost obscured her face. _No wonder she couldn't see me_. Kezoa thought.

"You mind if I tag along?" asked Kezoa.

"Nope, I don't mind at all. Come with me!" the Matoran said, she spun on her heel and began to walk forward—into another Matoran.

"Here; let me hold that for you." Kezoa offered, while putting both Matoran back on their feet and holding her hand out for the Matoran's pack. "What do I call you, anyway?"

"My name's Hahli." She said, giving Kezoa her bag. "Be careful with those; they're delicate."

Kezoa chuckled and shouldered Hahli's pack. "I'll be careful, but they've survived two falls already," she said, "I don't think you have anything to worry about."

()()()()()()()()()()

The Great Temple, as Kezoa learned, was a huge structure—at least as big as an eight story building. The long stretch of path that lead from the outskirts of Ga-Metru fed into open doors carved into the thick walls underneath the large, dome-like structure that looked like a carved face mounted upon a podium; a huge half-ellipse mouth and two great slats mimicked eyes were carved into the building, and appeared to stare over Kezoa and Hahli towards the direction of the city. Six spires—four twice the size of the temple, two only half—surrounded the temple, giving it a feeling of symmetry.

"This thing's _big_." Kezoa whistled.

"Your temples to the Great Spirit aren't as big where you come from?" Hahli asked.

"Uh…_maybe_ as big." Kezoa muttered, thinking of the Vatican and the Notre Dame cathedral, "We have them, I guess…" _Though I've never been inside one personally…_

"Let's go. Toa Takanuva should be waiting inside for us." Hahli said as she trudged forward towards the temple.

Kezoa looked up again at the building. There was some sort of familiarity about this place…

"Toa Kezoa, are you coming?" Hahli called.

Kezoa tore her eyes away from the eye-slats in the temple and caught up to Hahli easily. The two walked past many Matoran from all over the Metru's as they headed towards the Great Temple. Several of the Matoran looked up, stared, or pointed to Kezoa either from excitement or something else, but it made Kezoa uncomfortable. She had never been fond of attention as a human, and even as a Toa, seeking passersby giving her notice made her antsy.

"Hahli…why are they staring at me?" Kezoa whispered, just to get some assurance that it wasn't because she looked funny.

"Oh, ignore them." Hahli said, "Though news travels pretty fast around the island, there are still some Matoran who live under protodermis rocks and those that just want to be obnoxious. As a new Toa, you're something of a celebrity now. Don't worry; it'll wear off."

"I hope so." Kezoa murmured. The girls entered the temple, and immediately darkness descended. It wasn't like Maltegere or the Makuta's darkness, but it was more of a calming dimness that somehow came whenever you entered a sacred place (in addition to that, there was almost no source of light inside the Temple). Kezoa felt chills go up her spine as she walked farther into the temple.

"Turaga Nokama says the Great Spirit often visits here." Hahli whispered reverently, "she said that in her day many Matoran have even claimed that they heard the Great Spirit's voice…"

"That would be so cool…" Kezoa murmured. _Maybe he can answer some questions I have._ "Where are we headed, Hahli?"

"To the Toa Suva." Hahli replied, "That's were Takanuva said he would met me. He may be waiting for you there, too."

"Maybe." Kezoa nodded. The inside of the Temple wasn't very complex; it looked to be only one level, a wide winding staircase was carved out of the wall just a few feet short of the entrance, leading up through a terrace that extended around the side of the temple at the height of ten feet, and all the walls and roofs of the temple—including the floor and ceiling—were inscribed with bizarre carvings of pictures and the circular runes. The terrace was held up by evenly spaced pillars, and past them Kezoa could see a strange mushroom-looking object in the center of the building, guarded by six more pillars that extended high above their heads and up into the ceiling.

"Is that the Toa Suva?" asked Kezoa.

"Yep." Hahli nodded, she suddenly pointed, "And there's Toa Takanuva!"

Sure enough, when Kezoa turned to look, there was Takanuva. His golden armor was set alight by windows above the terraces that Kezoa saw upon approaching him. He was studying the side of the Toa Suva, at a particular group of runes, when Kezoa and Hahli got to his side.

"Hey, Takanuva!" Kezoa said, raising her voice slightly above her reverent tone.

Takanuva almost leaped out of his armor, whirling around to see who approached him.

"Oh, Kezoa! Hahli!" Takanuva sighed in relief, "Scared the lights out of me! You're a little later than I expected, Kezoa. I was wondering if you had gotten lost…"

Kezoa shrugged with a sheepish smile on her face.

"I ran into her and I led her here!" Hahli said.

"Literally." Kezoa giggled. Hahli gave her a playful nudge.

"Well, now that we're here," Takanuva said, "Hahli, do you know what this means?"

Takanuva pointed to the section of the wall that he had been staring at before Kezoa and Hahli had interrupted him. Hahli took her pack from Kezoa's hands and strode over to the wall. She examined it for a moment before she placed her pack by her feet and opened it up, searching for a particular tablet. Finding what she was looking for, she pulled out a tablet that appeared to have been worn greatly from centuries of use, she also pulled out a blank tablet and a stick of what looked like a cylindrical rock with the end scorched to the consistency of charcoal.

"Is this going to be difficult?" asked Takanuva.

"If by that you mean 'will it take long?', then no. But I'll need time anyway." Hahli said, "Turaga Nokama taught me the ancient languages. I know how to deal with this."

Hahli looked back and forth from the wall to the tablet in her hands, and then wrote down on the blank tablet what must have been a translation (though Kezoa couldn't tell the difference between the two). For a moment, Kezoa watched Hahli translate, then she got bored and her eyes began to wander around the temple.

The pillars that surrounded the Toa Suva were domed at the top, but it didn't take long for Kezoa to realize that the tops were carved into what looked like faces. Looking around further, she began to examine the carvings on the walls. The pictures, at least, since she couldn't read what was actually on the walls. There were many depictions of Toa and Matoran alike, battling beasts and what looked like people related to Maltegere. What struck her in particular was a black cloud in one of the pictures that had two eyes glaring down at a group of Toa. That black cloud looked like in particular to the black shadow that talked to Maltegere when she had been kidnapped by him the second time.

"Takanuva," she whispered.

"Hmm?"

"What's _that_?"

Takanuva looked over to where she was pointing at.

"Oh, that? That's the Makuta."

"The Makuta? Or _the_ Makuta?"

"Well, all servants of the Makuta are called Makuta, but as for the head of their syndicate, he's _the_ Makuta; the Makuta of Metru-Nui, who the Toa Metru dealt with in the time before time, and also the same Makuta who sealed the Great Spirit Mata Nui away in deep slumber and caused the Great Cataclysm. He's the Makuta who I defeated just before you had arrived here."

"You say you defeated him?" Kezoa turned to Takanuva.

"Yep." He grinned proudly.

_I'd hate to burst your bubble, Takanuva, but I don't think he's as "defeated" as you believe…_ Kezoa thought to herself.

"Finished!" Hahli cried triumphantly.

"What's it say?" asked Takanuva, turning away from Kezoa and towards the translation.

"Well, I could only get a rough translation out of it." Said Hahli, "The carving's very old. I bet it was carved during the time of the Great Beings. It says something about a Codrex."

"A what?"

"A Codrex. It's a tablet that contains either a story or valuable information, but the translation is fuzzy and I'm getting a strong feeling that it may be something else entirely. I also picked up 'Mata Nui' in there, but I don't know how it pertains to this translation. Anyway, it says that the Codrex—or at least, the key to it if it's _not_ a tablet—is somewhere inside the temple."

"Should we go look for it?" asked Kezoa.

"Well…" Hahli scanned her translation, "it says something about keeping the Codrex safe…"

"There's no place safer than the Great Temple, it sounds like." Kezoa nodded.

"Still, though," Takanuva said, "shouldn't we look for it? After all, this may be a holy place, but that won't stop the Makuta's lackeys from coming inside the temple to find it."

"Hmm…he's got a point." Hahli muttered, "Should we split up and search?"

"I like that plan." Takanuva nodded, "Let's split up and look around. Check the walls; there might be a hidden switch in there somewhere."

The three agreed and turned away to search for the Codrex. Hahli started to paw around the vicinity close to the Suva, while Takanuva was pressing his palms against the walls. Kezoa often found herself giggling at how ridiculous Takanuva looked, and at the look of mixed awe and confusion the visiting Matoran had when they walked by him.

Of course, she got that same look, but at least Kezoa was being a little more discreet about her search.

Kezoa rapped her knuckles against the wall, searching for any secret hollow spaces that could have been hidden inside the architecture. No matter where she tapped or rapped, from the top of the wall to the junction between the floors, she couldn't find anything loose or any hidden compartment.

"Hmm…" Kezoa murmured to herself. She stood up and scratched the back of her head in confusion. Turning around, Kezoa saw that Hahli had widened her little circle of her search and Takanuva was no where to be seen, though he was probably either scaling the steps or on the terrace above them. Kezoa, deciding to join him, headed up the stairs and gazing around as she climbed. The stairs were wide, and there were no guardrails—Kezoa found herself creeping close the wall habitually—to keep them from falling to the floor below.

Kezoa walked up the stairs through the hole in the terrace that allowed the stairwell to continue upward. Kezoa looked to the inside and indeed saw Takanuva searching the walls for any clues to the Codrex. Kezoa looked up the steps, wondering as why they did not stop at the terrace. She was surprised to see that the stairs continued to spiral upward until it stopped at the ceiling.

_Like the Winchester House…_Kezoa thought to herself. Curiosity drove her forward and Kezoa carried on with heading up the stairs until she had to crouch to keep her head from hitting the ceiling. She snuck in between the gap of the stairs and floor, claustrophobia starting to creep in despite the fact that she was normally good with tight spaces.

Kezoa rolled onto her belly and got as close as she could to where the steps met the ceiling, she prodded and tapped at the ceiling as she thought about the Great Temple's structural design and realized something was off.

_This isn't the final floor!_ She realized.

Thinking about it, she figured that she was only at the five-sixths mark in the temple, the horizontal windows filtered in light from outside, the tops of the eyes meeting the roof. The ceiling wasn't domed like it was on the outside was a pretty big clue that there was more to the building; maybe an attic.

_There must be a sealed door here._ Kezoa concluded with herself, pushing against the floor, hoping that it would give. When it didn't, Kezoa curled into a ball—feet facing the ceiling—and belted out a good sharp kick. The protodermis gave way with a good hearty KA-WHAMM.

"Kezoa? You okay?" she heard Takanuva call.

"Did you find something?" Hahli cried from the lower level.

Kezoa stuck her head through the hole her efforts had made, she looked around at the new room that she had found herself in. The stairs halted here, and the room's ceiling was domed, vertically cut by a wall in the center of the room, a door leading to the other half.

"I found another room!" Kezoa cried, stepping off the stairs.

"Do you see the Codrex?" Takanuva yelled.

Kezoa looked around, but seeing nothing, she called back "No, not yet!"

"Wait there! We're coming!"

Kezoa stepped into the room and scanned her surroundings, but found nothing that indicated that the Codrex was here.

_Maybe my mask can find it_! Kezoa thought. She switched on her mask and her vision flooded with a sight that nearly made her heart stop.

The top level of the floor, instead of a bright shade of blue, was saturated in a dark aubergine. There were splotches of deep darkness that permeated the walls like some sort of sickness that made Kezoa nauseated just staring at them. Kezoa gingerly stepped farther into the room, gazing around in horror with a hand over her mouth.

_I know this place_…

Kezoa walked over to the horizontal window and peered through it. The Protodermis Sea spread out before her like the oceans of Earth, and in the distance, Kezoa could see the shores of Ga-Metru.

_Oh, no._

She leaned forward.

_Oh, no!_

She had been here before!

"Kezoa!"

Kezoa turned to look behind her, but in the process her weight shifted forward and she found herself tumbling out the window. She let out a startled scream and her hand reached out to the window as it faded from the sick aubergine back to the pale shade of blue, and from that shade a golden light suddenly blasted out of the window and wrapped itself tightly around Kezoa's wrist.

She stopped falling, the jarring sensation shocked her mask out of commission and she saw the golden aura transform to Takanuva.

Takanuva grunted as he heaved, and he pulled her back into the temple as she literally walked on the near-vertical surface back inside the building. Weak from the sudden shock, Kezoa collapsed onto the floor with Takanuva following shortly after.

"What in the name of the Great Spirit—?!" Hahli darted up from the staircase over to Kezoa, "What happened?!"

"She nearly fell out of the temple!" Takanuva gasped, resting his arm on a raised knee, "What in the world where you thinking, Kezoa?!"

Kezoa gasped as she struggled to right herself. Her badly shaking knees kept on giving out from under her, and she was reduced to grabbing a hold of Takanuva's shoulder and allowing him to help her stand up.

"Kezoa, are you alright?" Takanuva ventured cautiously.

"This…" Kezoa panted, "This is where…I was taken!"

"What?"

"This is where…I went…when Maltegere…kidnapped me…a second time…!"

"What?!" Takanuva's eyes darted around as if Maltegere was still here, "Maltegere was here?!"

"Impossible!" Hahli objected, "This is holy land! There is absolutely no way that _any_ Makuta would be able to enter this sanctuary! Not without any of us knowing about it!"

"Think about it!" Kezoa pushed Takanuva away and threw an arm out to the walls, "This place has been unkempt for years, and this is a hidden floor! Of course no one would know that any Makuta were here, because no one knew that this floor even existed in the first place!"

"Do you think that he's still here?" Takanuva murmured as he crept tentatively towards the second room and peered into it.

"I don't think so." Kezoa said, "If he was, then he would have attacked the moment I stepped onto the floor."

Takanuva peeked into the room regardless, Kezoa knew she was right when he visibly relaxed and boldly walked straight into the room.

"Hey…Hahli, Kezoa, come here!"

The girls came to Takanuva's bidding, and when they entered the room they saw him staring at an indentation in the wall. It was deep; about three inches. The indentation obviously held a rectangular tablet a foot an a half tall and five inches wide and there were intricate carvings and words written all over the walls surrounding the indentation, so obviously whatever was once there was very important.

"Is this…?"

Kezoa switched on her mask and was startled to see that the sickening black and aubergine only came to about halfway into the room, and stopped in a straight line about five feet away from the indentation. What was more, the area around the indentation was glowing in a faint greenish-gold light.

"This must have been were the Codrex was!" Hahli cried as her golden form stepping up to the indentation and touching the carvings around the area, "The Makuta must have taken it!"

"I doubt it." Kezoa turned off her mask again and everything went back to normal, "The Makuta have some sort of…_essence_ about them, and it's very strong. It's still here, actually, after all of this time. It stops right where Takanuva and I are standing; whatever was once in that wall, the Makuta went nowhere near it."

"Are you sure?" asked Takanuva.

"Yeah." she nodded.

"So the Codrex was either stolen quite recently, or it has been gone for a while now, then…" Hahli grumbled tapping a finger against her chin as she glared at the ground.

"Probably for a while now. I can see the energy of the Codrex, too; it's extremely weak."

"Well, that's great."

"Something good came out of this, though;" Takanuva said.

Hahli and Kezoa looked at him.

"We know that this Maltegere can go anywhere; even inside a holy place. We need to keep our eyes open, and this expedition has provided great information for us. We _must_ keep on our guard."

"He's right about that." Kezoa turned to Hahli.

"Well…" Hahli sighed, "I guess…"

"I'm sorry I pulled you both all this way for something like this." Takanuva apologized, "I thought we were going to find some important artifact. Though this knowledge will indeed help us in the future, it still was not what I called you both here for, and I'm dreadfully sorry to take your time."

"Nah, that's okay." Kezoa waved Takanuva's apology away, "You just saved me from a couple hours of repair work; that's all."

"Don't worry about it, Takanuva." Hahli smiled, she walked over to him and nudged his leg, "I'm always happy to help an old friend. And make some new ones, too."

()()()()()()()()()()

"I _really_ am sorry I took your time…" Takanuva said again as he and Kezoa walked down the strait that connected the island of the Great Temple over to Ga-Metru.

"I told you: its fine." Kezoa stopped and turned to Takanuva as the Matoran hustled and bustled around them, "Repair work is going great at the coliseum, and I'm mostly just in charge of supervising to make sure no one gets crushed by a beam or something, but for some reason the Turaga keep finding tiny little things for me to do. Like tie a cord or something."

"That means they like you." Takanuva grinned.

"That's a funny way of showing it…" Kezoa grumbled.

"I'm glad you came, anyway." Takanuva placed a hand on Kezoa's shoulder, "You know…I'm happy that you've adjusted to life here so quickly. I mean, it seems like it was only a few months ago that you were a shivering bundle of nerves, fresh out of a traumatic experience. Now, you're a full-blown Toa hero and already you've handled three potential crises with flying colors!"

"It _was_ a few months ago, Takanuva."

"Oh."

Kezoa smiled and patted Takanuva's wrist, "Well, I'm happy that you cared enough that day to try and reach out to me. For all we know, if you hadn't I'd _still_ be that bundle of nerves."

Takanuva laughed and let go of Kezoa's shoulder, "Be safe on your journey back to the coliseum!"

"I will!" Kezoa waved goodbye as she set off down the road back over towards the center of the island, where the grand building was.

As she did, she thought of something and stopped in her tracks. She turned around and flipped on her mask. She never noticed it before, because she hadn't had turned it on then, but the essence of the Makuta was practically seeping out of the horizontal windows at the top of the Great Temple, while everything else reflected in a faint golden light, with a pinpoint of faint green energy in the middle of the top section.

_Dion wasn't lying when he said that the essence of the Makuta lingers long after he's been in a space_. Kezoa thought, _No wonder. While I was in there, I felt like I was going to die of fright or throw up, I was so sick. Is the power of darkness really _that_ vile_?

Kezoa shivered and clasped her arms, hugging herself.

When she had seen the Makuta inside that room…it _was_ true fear that she had felt. With such a dark and negative energy like the Makuta's, it was no wonder that even Maltegere feared his master.

_This is the guy who put this world's God to sleep_…Kezoa thought. She shivered again and pivoted on her heels and stalked away from the Temple, turning her mask off.

_I made the right decision_. Kezoa knew, _and even if I didn't believe in Gods of any sort, there was no way that I would side with such an evil creature like_ that.

Kezoa stopped and turned back to the Temple.

"You better watch out, Makuta." She said, "'Cause Toa Kezoa is coming after you; and she won't stop until you've been pounded to dust."

* * *

AN: The Great Temple is pretty big, but I don't know exactly how big. Correct me if I'm wrong with anything.


	8. Shadows of Ice! Cure for a Cold Heart?

Disclaimer: I do not own Bionicle, or its parent company. This story was created for the entertainment of the writer and the readers and does not reflect anything on Bionicle, Lego, or any of its affiliates.

* * *

Kopaka figured something was wrong by how much silence there was. Though snow absorbs most of any sort of sound, there was still some sort of echo to the landscape, and it wasn't there.

He adjusted his eye-scope and scanned the area for a clue on what was going on. His enhanced right eye could zoom in, out, and focus at will, and he could switch his vision to thermal, to search for any life that occasionally gets buried in the snow after an avalanche. An avalanche had not occurred recently, but still Kopaka switched to thermal vision just in case there was an enemy or a territorial Rahi hidden underneath the soft frost. There were no thermal readings, and even as Kopaka continued to move forward with his shield and blade at the ready, he was the only one that moved in this blank landscape.

At least, that's what he had concluded to until something reached up and clutched his ankle.

Kopaka gave a deft slice to whatever was holding his ankle and jumped back, whatever had grabbed him shrieked in pain and disappeared.

He looked around more carefully this time, trying to figure out just how in the world something could have snuck up on him even though all life had a thermal signature.

As he gazed around, he saw the snow around him suddenly change from blue to bright blue and magenta, indicating there was indeed some life form in the snow. Kopaka flung his blade and it sunk deep into the bank, he saw the life form wriggle madly around and scream in either pain or shock. Kopaka darted forward, pulled his blade out, and gave a good hard slice to the snow once again before the life form had a chance to attack again. In his thermal vision, he saw the worm of pink slice in half, thrash around for a time, and then freeze before melting back into the blue ice.

Whatever it was, it was gone now. Kopaka turned to walk away, and suddenly he was pushed hard in the back. He somersaulted down the hillside three times before he managed to get a foot hold and slide down feet-first the rest of the hill. He landed at the foot of the mound and he looked up to see what had pushed him.

In his thermal vision, he saw bright blue and magenta tendrils reaching and thrashing around in the air, and in his normal vision he saw what looked like crystal-clear tendrils.

_An ice Rahi of some sort_. Kopaka concluded.

The feelers suddenly dove towards him, their points zeroing in on him like he was a homing beacon of some sort.

Kopaka dove out of the way and threw a calculating slice, severing a good half of the tentacles. The injured antenna slunk away back into the hill bank and the healthy ones shot towards him again. Kopaka leaped upward and landed in the hillside, sinking deep into the snow. He tunneled his way back out and looked around for the ice Rahi again. He didn't have time to think before the Rahi wrapped its tendrils around him, picked him up, and threw him into another knoll about twenty yards away.

Kopaka's head hit hard against a rock or some other solid object, and his eye scope malfunctioned and switched off. Kopaka quickly shook the stars out of his vision and turned to see what he had crashed into.

It was a Ko-Matoran, encased in ice.

Kopaka blinked once and tapped on the ice cautiously. It gave a hollow tone, which wasn't like ice. Kopaka took his blade and—aiming carefully—drove the point down on what Kopaka figured was the weakest point. His blade bounced off of the shell and left not even a scratch, which meant that what was encasing the Matoran wasn't ice at all; it must have been some sort of crystal.

Kopaka blinked again and looked up over the landscape. Now that he knew what he was looking for, he saw that the scenery had all of these crystal cocoons spotting the landscape. Kopaka looked behind him to make sure that the ice Rahi wasn't behind him before he scooped up as many Ko-Matoran as he could and headed back to the Knowledge Towers of Ko-Metru. Hopefully, someone there could give him answers.

()()()()()()()()()()

Back on Earth, Kezoa had gone shopping for her mother many times: two months after Kezoa had gotten her driver's license her mother had undergone a major surgery to repair a broken femur and a shattered wrist after a terrible accident involving an inaccurately fenced cliff face and a bozo that wasn't paying attention to his side of the road. Kezoa's mother could not move, thus she could not work or drive, and even though their father some took time off to ascend the role of the housewife, sometimes Kezoa had to drive down to the grocery store and buy food and supplies with—as her father had dubbed it—a "grocery card"; a debit card that would enable Kezoa to buy food for the family. After she got over the initial anxiety of shopping on her own, she felt pretty grown-up at the time.

Pushing aside her homesickness, Kezoa headed towards Ko-Metru with a "shopping list" of Kanoka disks that were needed at the coliseum to finish the final touches on the huge building. Though she could not read the language, Kezoa had managed to sneakily attain the knowledge of what was asked of her while claiming it was just to clarify. She was after twelve regeneration disks, power levels ranging from three to six, and as a trade she was carrying upon her back sixteen new lenses packed in canisters lined with a soft downy substance meant for the telescopes of the Ko-Matoran, as many of them have been either damaged or have become filthy or freezer burned (appropriately) beyond repair.

_I'm happy that repair work is almost done,_ Kezoa thought to herself, _but what am I going to do with myself once it is_? _I just have a mask power. I don't have powers over the elements like the other Toa do, not to mention I don't have guardianship of any certain Metru. I'm just help-for-hire as far as the others are concerned._

Kezoa sighed as she entered Ko-Metru, the temperature dropped to considerably chilly, and her breath solidified to a white puff of a cloud. Snow was piled high on either side of the road, at least twice Kezoa's height as a Toa. The road was icy and she had almost slipped upon it several times. The snow absorbed the majority of sound, and as snowflakes fell it was almost unbearably quiet. The only think Kezoa could hear was her pulse and her slight breathing.

"Dang, it's quiet here…" Kezoa muttered, mostly just to hear something in this silent landscape.

As Kezoa gingerly stepped on the road, she heard a quiet sound, like something moving in the snow. Kezoa froze and looked around cautiously. Though the sky was heavily overcast, the pure white snow reflected whatever light there was back into the atmosphere, making the surroundings bright despite the dark clouds above. That being said, she was fairly certain that she could see whatever would be sneaking up on her. Kezoa heard the soft sound again and she turned around and screamed.

It was Kopaka.

"_Kopaka_!" Kezoa clasped her hands over her heart and panted hard, "What are you trying to do, give me a heart attack?!"

"I wasn't trying to do anything." Kopaka responded flatly.

Kezoa waited for him to say more, but he remained silent. Hung up awkwardly, Kezoa tried to start the conversation again.

"W-well, haven't you heard it's rude to sneak up on someone?" she demanded.

"No."

He fell silent after that.

Kezoa politely waited, and then she looked over her shoulder to the road towards the city.

"Can I help you? Because if I can't, I have some business to attend to." Kezoa asked, a little bit bitterly from being frightened, while gesturing to her pack.

Kopaka seemed to think a moment, then he blinked at her and the corner of his mouth twitched.

"Actually…no. Never mind." Kopaka walked past Kezoa and headed down the road while Kezoa watched his back.

After walking some distance, Kopaka stopped and turned around to look behind him at Kezoa. Apparently, he expected her to follow him.

Kezoa started, and then she jogged over to Kopaka.

She slipped on a patch of ice, and Kopaka reached out, grabbed her arm, and helped her back to her feet and they hiked towards the city together. As the two walked in the silence of the snow, Kezoa saw that as they approached the city she could see enormous crystal towers reaching high into the cloud cover, with tubes of liquid protodermis that acted as the city's highways weaving in and out of the buildings.

"Whoa! This place is amazing! Is this Ko-Metru?" Kezoa cried.

Kopaka nodded.

"I'll take you where you need to go, and after that you're on your own." He said.

Kezoa cocked her head. "Sure thing…"

They entered the Metru, and Kezoa was surprised to see that there was hardly any Ko-Matoran in the street, and it was almost deadly quiet.

"Kopaka." She whispered, "Where is everyone?"

Kopaka stayed silent for so long that she figured he hadn't heard her. Just as she opened her mouth to ask the question again, Kopaka answered:

"We are having…_problems_ right now. You know. Maintenance. It will be fixed in no time."

Kezoa looked around and up at the building. The enormous crystal towers appeared pristine, and there didn't appear to be any flaws on anything; in the tubes, on the towers, or within them. Kezoa looked over to Kopaka, who continued to stare straight ahead as they walked forward.

"Sure…" she murmured, "Right…"

()()()()()()()()()()

Mixed feelings came over Kezoa when Kopaka dropped her off at the Kanoka disk storage facility and she was met by Matoro, who gave her a snide question on how her Rahi trapping skills were going upon greeting. Kezoa responded in kind with a thickly sugar-coated greeting and a question on how his own Rahi trapping skills were (which nullified the comment) before the two proceeded with trading.

"Matoro…what's going on here?" Kezoa asked as the little Matoran rifled through a group of Kanoka disks, searching for the right ones to trade for the lenses.

Matoro turned and looked at her over the reception counter. The actual facility was more like an underground warehouse beneath a large igloo at the outskirts of the populated area, with a tightly covered doorway and wide rectangular window that served as the service counter. The Ko-Matoran frowned and turned back to his pile.

"There have been problems. That's all."

"What _kind_ of problems?"

Matoro looked at Kezoa, exasperated.

"What else? Maintenance."

"That's a load of bull-hockey."

Matoro gave her a funny look.

"What is 'bull-hockey'?"

"Don't worry about it." Kezoa leaned over the counter, resting on her elbows and pointing at Matoro, "I think you're hiding something. Kopaka too."

"Hey, _I_ haven't been hiding anything!" Matoro pressed a hand to his chest while he stomped off the step ladder he was on and clomped over to Kezoa, "All I know is what Kopaka told me!"

"Oh?" Kezoa pulled back slightly, "And what _did_ he tell you?"

"All I know is that Turaga Nuju put me in charge of the Kanoka disc facility to help out with Kopaka. He's been coming to me for several high and moderate powered Weaken Kanoka disks, and Turaga Nuju has taken several Poison Remove disks since Kopaka came back from his patrol."

"When was that?"

"A couple of hours ago."

"And I must ask for some more again."

Kezoa yelped in surprise and Matoro recoiled quickly. Turaga Nuju had somehow silently shuffled beside Kezoa.

"Yes, at once, Turaga!" Matoro recovered hurriedly, he darted deep into the facility to search for the disks that Nuju had asked for.

"When did you come up behind me?!" Kezoa hissed.

"A moment ago." Turaga Nuju turned to Kezoa, "You are very insightful, Kezoa Nuva."

Kezoa relaxed, but frowned at Nuju's remark.

Matoro came back from behind the neatly stacked piles of Kanoka disks with five in tow. He gave Kezoa a strange confused look before he counted out the disks.

"Levels six, five, three, and two four power disks."

"Yes, thank you, Matoro." Nuju exchanged the disks for what appeared to be stones that glowed with some sort of orange luminescent lumps, "Some more Rahi bait for you."

"Most gracious thanks, Turaga." Matoro nodded and pushed the disks towards Nuju while taking the Rahi bait and ducking beneath the counter to put them in his pack.

"Kezoa Nuva," Nuju gestured absentmindedly towards the disks, "would you mind carrying these for me? I've made several trips myself, but the work I'm doing with them is rather tiring."

Without waiting for her reply, Nuju turned away and began walking back towards the city. Kezoa turned to grab the disks when Matoro spoke up.

"How can you understand him?"

Kezoa looked up.

"Huh?"

"Turaga Nuju doesn't speak; he whispers and gestures. I'm his personal aide—I'm to translate to others what he says. So how come you can understand him?"

"I thought you were a Rahi trapper."

"I am, but that's a part-time job. A hobby of mine, really."

Kezoa pursed her lips, and then the realization dawned upon her. Her cousin on her mother's side had a speech disability, and due to the social aspect of speech and such this caused her to become somewhat of an introvert, which inadvertently further worsened her condition. This cousin came to live with them after her family sold their condo and moved to Kezoa's family's place until they got their own home, but the sale fell through and this cousin and her family were stuck until they could try to sell the condo again. Kezoa and her cousin were sharing a room, and over the course of a year and a half Kezoa had learned to make out what her cousin was saying to her fluently much to the befuddlement of the rest of her family. This was how, she figured, she was able to understand Turaga Nuju without interpretation.

"I knew someone who spoke like the Turaga." Kezoa answered, "And—like you—I was an aide to them. It's been a while since then, though; maybe I just never lost the ability."

"Ah…" Matoro nodded, "Where you an aide to a Turaga as well? On the island you came from?"

Kezoa looked over in the direction of the city. This cousin of hers…though at the time Kezoa and her were only thirteen and twelve respectively, Kezoa remembered constantly being in awe of her younger cousin because of her sage-like knowledge and advice. Kezoa mostly exploited this to finish her homework more quickly, but Kezoa was amazed by this and in turn respected her cousin greatly. Her cousin and the Turaga were different kinds of people, however, but that was just on the outside, right?

"…kind of." She murmured.

She turned her head and looked down at her armored body.

"Not anymore, anyway."

Matoro said nothing further. He had tried to help Kezoa remember the details of her island home, where she had come from, but his instincts told him that he might have accidentally caused her pain instead.

He watched silently as Kezoa left and hurried to catch up to Turaga Nuju.

They walked deep into the city in the shadows of the massive Knowledge Towers; giant towers of crystal that appeared to have been carved out from the inside to serve as working and living quarters. Before they got to the entrance of a certain tower that Turaga Nuju was ambling for, a group of three or four Matoran came out of the building. One of them looked disoriented, and he flat-out couldn't even stand up by himself without his friends helping him.

"Turaga…what is…?"

"Come with me, Kezoa." Nuju interceded, gesturing towards the sliding crystalline doors, operated by a Ko-Matoran that pulled a lever to open the door whenever visitors approached, who bowed to both Nuju and Kezoa as they stepped through.

They headed to an elevator—operated by four Levitation and two Increase Weight Kanoka disks—and ascended up the tower, an uneasy feeling haunting her all the way.

By the time that they got to their destination, they were already high above the clouds, based on the scenery past the windows to the outside. Kezoa had been above the clouds before, but she still felt awed and enamored by the spectacle. So caught up was she in this sight that she had almost forgotten about Nuju, and when she remembered, he had walked far ahead and she had to sprint to catch up to him before he receded into the room that was their destination.

Kezoa had turned a corner when she saw Nuju enter into a large room, and when Kezoa came in behind him she gasped and almost dropped the disks she was holding.

The entire floor was littered with Matoran, and only a fraction of them were actually alive and moving. The other Matoran were encased in what looked like ice, but an explanation from Nuju caused her to rethink her assumption.

"Toa Kopaka came to us earlier in the day transporting three Matoran, encased in what we now know is protodermis crystal." Nuju explained while he gestured towards the still moving Matoran, working hard to drill through the crystal using what looked like a drill of some sorts, "We have been working hard, but there are only so little of these protodermis drills. So we have been using Removes Poison Kanoka disks to eliminate some of the effects of the crystallized encasing."

As he said this, he pointed to a Matoran who had placed a Kanoka disk on a crystal-encased Matoran. The disk began to glow, and then it sent out waves of light that covered the crystal. The Ko-Matoran who put the disk on it stepped back and watched as the disk slowly removed the crystalline structure, the Kanoka disk dissolving as its power was drained into the crystalline casing.

"It has been working so far," said Nuju, "but Kopaka keeps bringing back more crystal encased Matoran, and lately he has encountered…_increasing_ difficulty."

A Matoran behind them cried out in distress, and Kezoa whirled around to see an extremely grim-looking Kopaka hauling in a net on his back containing five more Matoran popsicles. He looked close to being in shambles; his armor was dented in several places, and his mask bore tell-tale signs of an enemy with slashing capabilities.

"Kopaka!" Kezoa cried, "What—?!"

"Turaga, why did you bring her here?" Kopaka growled at Nuju, halting and glaring at the Turaga.

Nuju innocently gestured towards the Kanoka disks in Kezoa's arms, "I needed her help in bringing more Removes Poison Kanoka disks. That is all."

Kopaka glowered at Nuju. Though to Kezoa it sounded like Nuju had given Kopaka a response, she had forgotten that Nuju's voice was barely above a whisper, and as a result, Kopaka did not hear the answer clearly. Kopaka turned away and handed his net of Matoran to some other helpers who hurriedly carried the crystals to any empty space in the room.

"There are still some Matoran there," Kopaka said flatly, pivoting on his heel and stalking away towards the exit, "I'm going back."

"Wait, Kopaka!" Kezoa cried, "Do you need—?"

"No." Kopaka turned a corner and didn't once look back as his footsteps echoed in the crystalline halls.

Kezoa slumped and breathed out a sigh mixed with frustration and helplessness.

"Kopaka is a faithful Toa," Nuju noted, "though prideful and stubborn."

Kezoa turned to the Turaga, who had turned back to a Matoran encased in crystal and took a Poison Remove disk and placed it onto the structure, and immediately it started to glow and deteriorate.

"He had been making trips back and forth from the disaster site to here." Nuju explained casually, "At first, it was easy; he was bringing back Matoran as if he were collecting Knowledge crystals down at the farms. But as you know now, he has been having trouble. It appears there is some sentient guardian that's keeping the Matoran captive. I suspect that it has been here since the time before time, and has spent the majority of its life in solitude. But now, since Matoran have returned to the city I think it believes that its territory is threatened and thus is attempting to remove the 'intruders'."

"Well, then," Kezoa flipped around to the door Kopaka left through, "shouldn't we just put it somewhere else? I don't know—like some other habitat similar to this one?"

Nuju shook his head slowly as the Matoran, now three-quarters of the way three, began to jerk and gasp.

"There is no other suitable habitat for it." He stated sadly, "the island of Mata Nui has been rendered barren; Bohrok swarms have caused the island to be incapable of supporting life. Why do you suspect we returned to the city of Metru Nui? The only option for this creature is to stand down or be destroyed." Turaga Nuju sighed and shook his head again as the Poison Remove Kanoka disk disintegrated the crystal covering off the Ko-Matoran and he sputtered and coughed.

"Can we convince it to stand down? I could always tame it like I did Beowulf—"

"I severely doubt that the probability of something like that happening a second time would work." Nuju said, he walked over to the freed Matoran and helped him onto his wobbling feet, "The fact that you tamed Beowulf was a miracle in itself; that Rahi mutt was clearly an adult, and it's extremely difficult to tame an adult creature of any kind. In addition to that, he was highly aggressive and territorial, much like this Rahi. However, I have come to a hypothesis as to why you were able to domesticate Beowulf: within the Rahi mutt's genotype there are traces of Kavinika and Kikanalo traits. Kavinika were formerly used as guards and pets in Ga-Metru, but since they proved to be short-tempered they were abandoned. I think that much of that negative trait was smoothed out by the Kikanalo gene within Beowulf, since Kikanalo are—though destructive—normally calm and sedate by nature. As a result, the docile character within the mutt was strengthened, and has enabled it to take a shine to you.

"This ice Rahi isn't a mixed breed, and we have heard of this type of creature before; it was when we got the first seeds for the Knowledge Tower crystals. These creatures were guardians of the seeds, and it took several Toa and Vahki squad members to bring the guardians down. The creatures since were deemed a pest, like the Kavinika, but unlike the Kavinika they had been hunted to extinction…at least, that was what we thought."

"So…to sum up, there's nothing that can be done but destroy it." Kezoa ventured.

"Indeed." Nuju nodded.

Kezoa frowned and released a huff of frustration. She scratched the back of her head and stared at the floor, a hand propped on her hip, until she made a decision.

"Okay." She said, mostly to herself, before she rocketed out the door.

()()()()()()()()()()

"KOPAKA!"

Kezoa saw both the Toa and Matoro turn to look at her as she raced across the ice towards the Kanoka disk storage facility.

"Hm?" Kopaka mumbled as Kezoa jogged to a stop in front of him.

Kezoa rested her hands on her thighs, panting as she tried to catch her breath. She looked up at Kopaka.

"I'm coming with you. If we want to rescue the rest of the Matoran, we have to take this thing down once and for all."

"WHAT?!" Matoro cried.

"Are you sure?" asked Kopaka.

"Positive." Kezoa turned to Matoro, "You have any more Weaken Kanoka disks?" she asked.

"I just told Kopaka here; I'm fresh out!" Matoro cried, "Until they make more in Ga-Metru, we'll have to do without. Did you seriously say you were going to face this thing?!"

"We can't depend on the disks." Kopaka stated. He turned to Kezoa, "We'll have to rely on ourselves and each other. Are you sure you still want to come?"

"Sign me up." Kezoa nodded stoutly.

Kopaka turned around and began walking, with Kezoa right behind him.

"Wai—!" Matoro tried. He ducked down away from the service counter and ripped open the covering in the door, racing over to the two departing Toa before he grasped Kezoa's wrist, and she turned to look down at him.

"Yes?" she asked.

Matoro opened his mouth to try and object, based on his expression, but decided against it and the words died in his throat. Matoro tried again, but this time decided more carefully on his words.

"Be safe out there, alright?" he asked.

Kezoa cocked an eyebrow, "This doesn't sound like you, Matoro! I didn't think you'd be worried about me."

"Well…you kind of have a tendency to get yourself in trouble." Matoro explained.

Kezoa gave Matoro an overly dramatic wince.

"I just…I don't want you to get hurt." Matoro said quietly, taking his hand off her wrist.

Confusion fogged Kezoa's mind for a moment, and then it cleared and an endearing feeling came over her.

Kezoa gave Matoro an affectionate tap on the shoulder and a warm grin. "Don't worry about it! And you'll recall that even though I get in trouble a lot, I always find a way out of it!"

Matoro looked up at her then shrugged and nodded.

"Don't worry; we won't be out long!" Kezoa told Matoro as she walked away from him and over to Kopaka, "This'll be over before you know it!"

Kopaka and Kezoa nodded to each other—a silent agreement over something—and they took off across the landscape. Matoro watched as the two Toa grew smaller and smaller in the distance until Kopaka completely blended into the snow and Kezoa was nothing more than a dark dot. Matoro decided he may as well do something useful with his anxiety and turned back towards the storage facility to send out a request order to Ga-Metru and catalogue more Kanoka disks.

()()()()()()()()()()

Kezoa stopped behind Kopaka and they looked around. She had no idea how far they had walked, or if they were going in the right direction, but so far they had only seen two Matoran popsicles and had managed to get them back to Ko-Metru safely. In that space of time, neither one had spoken to the other, although Kezoa had twice failed to make conversation and decided that maybe Kopaka was just…introverted.

_Or a recluse._ She added to herself as the two began walking again. _Not that I have anything against introverts. Heck, in Los Angeles I had a boyfriend who was an introvert. I wonder how he's doing…I actually think he was autistic, though. Well, what's the difference between autism and introverts? Never mind. Just because they're introverts doesn't mean they're autistic. I mean, introverted would be mild and autism would be severe. I don't even think that these people know what autistic even _means; _not that there's anything wrong with being autistic_—

"Stop!"

Kezoa didn't halt soon enough and she crashed into Kopaka's back. She pushed herself away and rubbed the front of her mask as she looked around.

"Kopaka, what's—?"

"Shh!"

Kopaka slowly pulled out his ice blade and shield and held them at the ready. Kezoa looked around quickly. She saw no enemy, but she figured it was better to be safe than sorry and pulled out her spear too, turning around and pressing her back against Kopaka's. Kezoa carefully looked around her, and when she didn't see anything the first time around, she turned on her mask just to make sure. To her shock, she saw millions of trails of dull green energy, like there were moles in the ice digging deep into the snow, and even more appalling was what looked like golden cocoons wrapped in the dark green stuff, though it was dim and pulsated only slightly.

"Hey, Kopaka—"

Pressed against her back, she felt Kopaka's body stiffen and she looked over her shoulder but barely registered tentacles reaching for them when Kopaka was pushed into her back, shoving her deep into the snow.

Kopaka quickly rolled off of her, but before she could even raise her head, Kezoa felt thick tendrils wrap tightly around her midsection before lifting her up high in the air and chucking her like a stone from a slingshot. Kezoa screamed in astonishment but fortunately landed deep in a snow bank, her mask switching off. Kezoa hurriedly tunneled her way back out and shook the frost out of her eyes and whipped her head around to find Kopaka and the enemy. Of course, since Kopaka was white as the snow around him and the enemy was transparent it took time to realize what she was looking at.

She saw Kopaka leaping backward and forward while jabbing with his spear. Kezoa could hear odd warbled sounds of an animal keening, but it wasn't until Kezoa switched her mask back on that she saw what Kopaka was fighting:

It looked like a squid of sorts, except the head was deep beneath the snow, and it looked more like the head of an octopus rather than a squid, with what looked like fifty eyes neatly arranged on the head and one huge eye blinking in the middle of the cranium. Kezoa looked up at the mechanical tentacles and saw them all waving wildly; randomly reaching down to try and snatch Kopaka, who succeeded in dodging them easily using a complex pattern of ducks, swerves, and sometimes flips. Also, as the tentacles waved around and jabbed at Kopaka, she saw the dark green substance of liquidized crystal protodermis squirting out from the tips of the tendrils, aimed for Kopaka but landing on the snow instead, hardening into the hard casing enfolding the imprisoned Matoran.

Kopaka was doing a fantastic job evading the creature, but Kezoa grimaced when she saw that any time Kopaka cut a tentacle down, it would grow back slowly but surely.

_Like the Hydra_. Kezoa moaned internally.

But she thanked her fortune that it wasn't exactly like the Hydra, as only _one_ grew back when it was cut down, and not _two_. With this thought in mind, it was conceivable that this battle was doable, if only slightly. If they managed to cut off enough tentacles to inhibit its attacking capabilities, and since this ice squid had what must have been over a hundred tentacles, shielding it in a tight guard, it would simultaneously take out its defenses and leave it open for a killing blow. If she and Kopaka worked together.

Kezoa pulled herself out of the bank and with her spear high and ready for combat. She hurdled over the tentacles reaching for her, slashed at multiple tendrils, and did a baseball-like slide at high speeds underneath the swarm (which she was really proud of, thinking back), ending up at Kopaka's side.

She sprang to her feet and ensued helping her brother cut down the ice Rahi.

"Use caution!" Kopaka called, "Don't let it spray you in the crystallized protodermis!"

"Thanks for the tip!" Kezoa yelled back. She leaped high into the air and let out a huge "HYAH!" as she cut down another tendril, then dashed forward and cut down two more. Kopaka swerved to his left and whirled his blade around like a propeller, rotating his wrists and alternating between hands as he chopped and hacked professionally like a sushi chef.

It was certainly Kezoa's longest battle to date; at one point, she and Kopaka even switched weapons when the tentacles managed to successfully knock down their armaments. They dove hard to the ground, but accidentally grabbed the wrong hilts. Kezoa was glad to find, though, that a double-bladed sword was just as easy to use and was surprised to find that it was actually much lighter than her spear. She and Kopaka hacked down a couple more tendrils before they made eye-contact again and exchanged weapons, tossing them over a seven foot gap to the rightful owners.

She and Kopaka continued to battle against this creature until they both started to get worn down, whereas the ice creature—with its regenerative tentacles—was not even close to letting up.

In her exhaustion, Kezoa swung a strike meaning to knock off another tentacle, but mistimed it and received a blow that knocked her off of her feet and sent her into the snow. Kezoa only got to her knees before the creature wrapped a tentacle around her ankle and plucked her into the air. Kezoa howled and accidentally released her hold on her spear. It streaked, blade down, through the frigid air and plunged deep into the snow—

And landed right inside the pupil of the main eye.

The ice creature howled in anguish and thrashed about, flinging Kezoa around like a doll and sending Kopaka sprawling for cover.

Kezoa was whipped around violently until the creature finally released her, hurling her into another snow bank.

As Kezoa tried to get her bearings of time and place back while her vision doubled, tripled, then went out from her mask's vision to normal sight, Kopaka leaned over her.

"What did you do?" he asked.

Kezoa moaned in nausea, but after pressing a hand to her forehead she lifted herself to a sitting position and pointed—at least, she thought she did—at her spear. The ice creature was still baying in pain and vainly trying to wrap a tentacle around the spear and pull it out of its main eye, but since it was so small in comparison the tentacles kept on slipping and couldn't get a good enough grip on it.

"It's eye…" Kezoa moaned, "I dropped the spear in the eye…"

Kopaka surged to his feet and charged forward, he left his shield behind but split his double-blade into two and he raced over towards the ice creature. Kopaka tossed one blade and it sunk deep into a minor eye, the creature's wail keened higher, but no matter how hard it tried it couldn't get either the sword or the spear out.

Kopaka sprang up and landed on the spear, clutching it tightly and raising the second blade high into the air.

The creature howled, a terrifying sound, and this time managed to successfully attain a hold on Kopaka.

Kopaka dropped his last sword as it lifted him high into the air, the creature glared at him for a split second, and then a mouth split the head open lengthwise. Kopaka dangled over the jaws, and though he spoke no words, Kezoa saw his eyes widen considerably as he started to squirm and scramble. Kezoa reached over and gripped Kopaka's shield, she wobbled to her knees and curled her arm around her face.

Aiming carefully, Kezoa whipped the shield outward like a Frisbee.

The disc whistled shrilly in the air, blasting away the paths of several snowflakes, before it careened into the hilt of her spear.

The spear was knocked out of the eye, and as the creature howled again in pain and dropped Kopaka, the spear propelling away into the clouds. Kezoa shook the rest of the stars out of her head and got to her feet as best as she could. She darted forward as fast as was possible in her state, reached down as she was running, grabbed Kopaka's fallen blade, aimed its point forward, and charged straight into the ice creature, winging the blade down as she went and splitting the Rahi apart like the belly of a fish.

Kezoa somersaulted over the creature, inflicting damage as she went, until she landed hard into the snow behind it.

Kezoa whipped around and saw the creature writhe before it fell silent and became immobile.

She sighed in relief and stood, her knees shaking as she walked over to Kopaka and handed him his bloody blade.

For a moment, Kopaka stared at her. Then he nodded.

"Impressive." He said.

Kezoa smiled at the comment before she turned around and set off to search for her spear.

()()()()()()()()()()

Matoro was giving Turaga Nuju companionship in the storage facility. Or at least, that was how he preferred to think about it.

While Turaga Nuju stood outside watching the snowy horizon, Matoro was busy inside the facility re-cataloguing the Kanoka disks. He had done it once before, and that had taken well over an hour, but after a five minute break of sitting at the service counter staring at the crystal formations on its surface, Matoro decided to take another go at it. As a matter of fact, Matoro was scratching out an error on his tablet when Nuju summoned for him.

"Matoro." He called.

Matoro leaned backwards, peering out from behind the service counter. Turaga Nuju's back was turned to him, but he appeared to be watching something from a distance. Matoro climbed down the step ladder and ambled to the counter, brushing off the shavings he had made from carving out his mistake. Matoro looked up and followed the Turaga's gaze to see what he was viewing.

Over the horizon, Matoro saw two dark specks grow larger and morph until they became the shape of two Toa, hauling on their backs what must have been a ten total Matoran encased in the protodermis crystal.

Matoro dropped his tablet and ducked under the entrance to try and attain a better look. Indeed, it was two Toa—Kopaka and Kezoa—with two slings full of crystallized Matoran. As they came closer, Matoro saw that the two Toa were quite dilapidated; dents tarnished their armor, and they moved rather laboriously. Even when Kezoa looked up she only gave Matoro a small smile that lasted only for a second as he darted out from underneath the facility and ran to assist them.

"Are you two well?" he demanded as the Toa set down their loads.

"Well enough." Kopaka answered.

"We defeated the ice creature," Kezoa added, "but we're going to have to make a couple of return trips to pick up the rest of the Matoran; there's a bunch of them still encased in crystal deep beneath the snow."

"Are they all living?" Turaga Nuju asked as he hobbled to a stop beside Matoro, who hurriedly translated.

Kopaka gave a curt nod and spun around and began to head back the way he came.

"Oh, Kopaka! Wait for me!" Kezoa exclaimed, though she sounded slightly perfunctory.

Matoro reached out and grabbed Kezoa's wrist again, and she turned towards him and stared before she looked back at the receding form of Kopaka.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

Matoro opened his mouth, but then snapped it shut. He reorganized his thoughts before answering Kezoa.

"You…did good." He answered, releasing her.

Kezoa smiled at him, though confused, then easily jogged away to catch up to Kopaka.

Matoro heard a slight chuckle beside him, but when Matoro looked Turaga Nuju was merely watching the two Toa walk away, rocking back and forth on his heels with his staff hidden away behind his back.

()()()()()()()()()()

Kezoa and Kopaka made about twenty trips back to the battle site, though eighteen of them were with the help of other Ko-Matoran who had brought with them sleds, which assisted them greatly in picking up the last two hundred and ninety-four Matoran. By the time they were finished, there was a break in the snow and the clouds had cleared away just enough for Kezoa to see two full moons peering down at them in the midst of a inky black sky littered with stars. Kezoa flopped against the Kanoka disk storage facility and stared upward.

Turaga Nuju thanked her profusely (a full sentence) and took over the rest of the job as he and Kopaka transported the last Matoran to the Knowledge Towers to be defrosted, telescope lenses in his hand and the regeneration disks in hers.

But Kezoa didn't feel like going back to the coliseum just yet.

Sure, Turaga Vakama was going to be wondering where she was, but it wasn't like it was imperative that she get the regeneration disks back ASAP.

Kezoa huffed out another tired sigh and started when someone plopped down beside her.

"Matoro!" she gasped, "You scared me!"

"Sorry." He said, "I saw you sitting here by yourself and I figured that I would keep you company."

"Oh. Thank you." She said. She nestled back into the wall of the facility and stared up at the sky.

"You know," Kezoa noted, "you talk more than the other Ko-Matoran."

Matoro smiled, "Well, that's partly because I've spent more time out of the Metru on Rahi business."

"Oh-h-h…I see." Kezoa nodded thoughtfully, "Yeah."

"Now _you're_ starting to sound like a Ko-Matoran." Matoro chuckled.

"I guess I got it from Kopaka." Kezoa giggled.

Toa and Matoran laughed back and forth at one another before exhaustion forced Kezoa to fall silent and begin to stare back at the sky. It had cleared up considerably during the interim and she saw that a distance away from the moons there were several brightly shining stars that formed no particular constellation, and yet, it drew her attention and kept her eyes glued to it. Curious, she pointed up towards the cluster of stars.

"Matoro, what are those?"

Matoro leaned slightly into Kezoa and stared up her arm at what she was pointing at.

"Oh, don't you know?" he asked, looking up at her, "Those are the Spirit Stars. The Great Spirit creates a new one each time a new Toa comes into existence."

Kezoa looked back up at the sky.

"One for each Toa…?" she asked.

"Yes."

Kezoa squinted and began to count them. _One…two…three…four…five…six…seven…_

"…eight!" Kezoa finished aloud, astonished.

"Uh-huh."

Kezoa recounted, just to make sure. There were indeed eight Spirit Stars in the sky.

"But…why would I be up there?" she asked.

Matoro looked at her strangely.

"You are a Toa! Why else? At one time, there were over one hundred Spirit Stars in the sky, matching the number of Toa guardians the city had!"

Kezoa furrowed her eye ridges together.

"But…am I really a true Toa?" she murmured, "I don't belong to any sort of Metru. I'm needed only for repairs and back-up, like today. Am I really as strong as Kopaka? Or Onua or Tahu, or even Gali? I may have defeated that creature, but it was just barely, and it was with Kopaka's help…"

Matoro switched his gaze from Kezoa to the spirit stars and then back at her. He reached up and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"When it comes to physical strengths, I don't know about you and Onua," said the scholar Matoran gently, "but otherwise, I have no doubt that you can be—no, that you _are_—as strong as the other Toa. Maybe even stronger. That's what…I believe, anyway."

Kezoa looked at Matoro. His serious face comforted Kezoa, and she gave him a grateful smile.

"Thank you, Matoro."

* * *

AN: Cute little moment.


	9. Chaos in Le-Metru! Force-Sphere Crisis?

Disclaimer: I do not own Bionicle, or its parent company. This story was created for the entertainment of the writer and the readers and does not reflect anything on Bionicle, Lego, or any of its affiliates.

AN: The story may not necessarily comply with the canon Bionicle plot. Just so you know.

* * *

Kezoa inhaled deeply. She leaned forward and gazed over the edge, peering down at the enormous tube of liquid protodermis as dark items—some small, some not so much—whizzed past, blurred and veneered by the textured covering over the tube that made it look like it was covered in a thick layer of reinforced plastic, though she had been told numerous times by the Matoran in her company that it wasn't "plastic", it was a sheath of magnetic energy, which was perfectly permeable.

If you hit it right.

Kezoa leaned back and exhaled, her breath coming out in a great rush. Already, worst-case scenarios were flooding her brain and it was difficult to keep her composure. It was like when you were going to mount a car on a roller-coaster, except in this instance the only thing that was strapping you in was, well, nothing; just a measly little Kanoka disk (or in Kezoa's case, a large borrowed shield) that you had to hold onto for dear life. With one hand.

And in her current body, her feet didn't necessarily have any gripping capabilities.

"What's the problem-matter, Toa-sister?"

Kezoa looked down to Donuba, one of the six Le-Matoran around her who—like she—were positioned, poised and ready, on several low-level Kanoka disks, primed to leap off the edge at the exact right time to leap into the liquid protodermis chute. Repairs to the coliseum had finally been completed, and so Kezoa was left to her own devices and she decided that she would visit Le-Metru. While she was walking around, she came into the chute station, where the Matoran would board the magnetic tube to get to any other Metru quickly, but since there were difficulties in the Moto-hub, the central system for the chutes, the primary transport system was off-limits to sentient riders, making the Le-Matoran who were sitting in the chute station look very bored indeed.

And if anyone knew Le-Matoran, it was that they did not like to sit for long.

Kezoa offered a shaky grin to Donuba. "N-nothing!" she sputtered.

Donuba shrugged and turned back to the edge of the outcrop they were standing on.

"Get set-ready!" a Le-Matoran, named Yaito (who came up with this idea in the first place), standing next to Kezoa yelled, and in an instant the Matoran were tensed and ready. Kezoa followed suit, though every nerve in her body was screaming _bad idea! BAD IDEA!_

Kezoa tried to keep herself from hyperventilating as Yaito started counting down from five. She steeled herself and told herself to be brave, that it's always good to try new things, when the countdown ended and the wave of Toa and Matoran surged forward with the noses of their disks and shield aimed straight for the magnetic shield.

As they sailed downward, Kezoa felt that same zero-gravity feeling she always had had after the very first drop of the rollercoaster; the one when the car attains enough speed to soar across the tracks with little to no assistance.

Kezoa took a breath—just enough to fill her lungs halfway—before the tip of her shield pierced the magnetic sheath.

There was a split-second of resistance, and for a terrifying moment Kezoa thought she would bounce off of the sheath and tumble to the ground, some sixty stories below.

But then the magnetic sheath gave out beneath her, and her body melted into the chute and suddenly she was gripped by pressure in the water and she was yanked into the tide. She blinked and she could see the green translucent protodermis current whirling around her, pushing her forward in the direction of whatever Metru they were headed towards. Kezoa whipped her head behind her and saw the last Matoran arrive into the chute. The little green men zipped past her due to their lighter weight and before her eyes started to flip and tumble. Kezoa's muscles seized as her instincts took over and she thought that her Le-Matoran companions were losing their grips on their rides, but then she looked closer and saw that they weren't losing control—quite the opposite.

They were doing _tricks_!

Kezoa watched wide-eyed as a Matoran named Gecko scrapped the bottom of the tube with his disk and then angled his tiny body so that his weight carried up the left side of the chute like he was a skateboarder on a half-pipe. He did four back flips in mid-water before his disk kissed the other end of the chute, and Gecko used his momentum to return and attain balance in the center of the tube. Kezoa saw another Matoran do several other tricks that made her cringe like she saw her mom did when Zeke was first showing her his new-found tricks on his skateboard.

Gecko turned to her and nodded.

Kezoa looked around and pointed to herself, and Gecko nodded again.

He wanted _her_ to do a trick.

Kezoa frowned and looked around herself to make sure that she wouldn't crash into anything or anybody before she crouched into her shield and did a front-flip.

She overshot her marker and did three instead of one, but when she went right side up again, she saw Gecko smiling at her. He held a thumbs-up in approval.

Kezoa grinned and half released herself from her crouch, leaned to her left and scraped against the inside of the chute before arching her spine backwards, holding firmly onto the shield beneath her, and tumbling into a flip that spun her around until she came back upright in the center of the tube.

When she came out of the flip, she saw the Matoran watching her. She grinned at them and suddenly the play resumed. She watched them zip and zoom around her, only occasionally doing a couple tricks of her own. As she watched them, she realized that she was feeling something that she hadn't had felt in a long time:

She was truly happy.

The Matoran abruptly scrambled. They drew back quickly and frantically tried to escape the hold of the protodermis tube.

Confused as she might have been, Kezoa followed their lead and helped a struggling Matoran break through the magnetic sheath, holding for dear life onto the edge of a large brace that suspended the protodermis tube in the air. She cradled the Matoran in the crook of her arm as she climbed down to the brace to where all the other Le-Matoran in the group had taken to, in the gap between the chute itself and the support beams of the brace. When she landed alongside the other Matoran Kezoa turned to her charge and rubbed his back as he coughed.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Still coughing, the Matoran pointed up some distance away.

Kezoa straightened and peered into the distance to see what he was pointing at. The protodermis chute curved wide eastward, towards Ta-Metru, but farther down the track Kezoa saw the casing around the chute warp and ripple, causing the protodermis chute to either swell or shrink dangerously.

"That doesn't look good…" Kezoa murmured.

"Has anyone quick-seen Gecko?" Yaito suddenly called anxiously.

The Matoran's heads swiveled around to take a quick look at each other only to shake their heads at Yaito. Kezoa meanwhile was still studying the warping track and saw a green speck holding for dear life to one of the braces several tens of meters off, just before the warp in the chute.

Of course, it could only have been Gecko.

Kezoa cursed and pulled out her spear and borrowed shield as she monkey-climbed the protodermis brace. When she got to the chute, she swung her spear and sank it deep into the magnetic sheath. To her delight, the spear began to cut the sheath, when a big enough slit opened within it she slid in just before the magnetism kicked back in and shut it behind her. Kezoa tucked the shield underneath her feet and used her spear to keep herself near the wall as she allowed the current to carry her towards Gecko and the magnetic warp in the tube. The pressure within was higher than it was just a few minutes ago, and took almost all of her strength to not only keep the shield beneath her but to keep in control of where she was headed. Finally, when she reached her destination, Kezoa released her hold on her shield and allowed it to shoot out from underneath her feet and dart past Gecko into the warp.

With her newly freed hand, Kezoa wrapped her arm around Gecko's middle and the Matoran let go of his support as her spear hooked onto the brace, keeping them secured. Within the water, Kezoa heard an audible pop and she turned around to see the magnetic sheath around the protodermis tube begin to reform as the warp, now released, hurtled down the current. The tube convulsed and suddenly Kezoa and Gecko were no longer inside the chute. She had barely noticed it when Gecko started howling, and then she realized that they were now hurtling towards the ground at high-speed, and Kezoa started screaming too.

Suddenly, out of the blue (literally), a green streak sped down from the sky.

It was Lewa.

"GRAB-HOLD, SISTER!" Lewa yelled as he shot past them.

Kezoa angled her body around—still keeping a firm grip on Gecko—and shoved her spear into her back compartment, then she reached out and hooked her arm around Lewa's middle before she flipped underneath him and released her hold on Gecko to wrap her other arm around Lewa's shoulders and bear hug him tightly.

Now they were no longer free-falling, and Gecko was safely sandwiched between the two Toa.

"Nice catch, Lewa!" Kezoa grinned.

"No-hard problem!" Lewa responded. He leaned to the left and they soared off in that direction, towards where the other Le-Matoran—looking in awe at the approaching Toa—waited underneath the protodermis chutes.

Lewa slowed his descent and tilted upward to a standing position, landing easily on the protodermis brace. Kezoa released Lewa and Gecko flopped onto the ground, looking quite dumbfounded.

"Are you fine-safe, sister?" Lewa asked.

"I am now."

"What of you, brave-soul Matoran?" Lewa crouched down and gently tapped Gecko's mask. The Matoran stared at the ground for a moment, then shook his head and regained his sense of self.

"That was huge-amazing!" Gecko cried, he leapt to his feet and ran towards the other Le-Matoran, who flocked around him and demanded how "huge-amazing" it was, which Gecko whole-heartedly explained.

"It was huge-amazing." Lewa chuckled, "Except you close-nearly harm-killed yourselves!"

The Le-Matoran broke off their fest, obviously startled by Lewa's abrupt change in attitude, and turned towards him with their heads down respectfully.

"You are well-off aware of how much-long Turaga Matau told-warn of chute jumping!" Lewa barked, his index finger angrily pointed, his mask sternly twisted, "_Especially_ since the chutes are prone-liable to break-malfunction after long-years of being neglect-unused! In addition to near endanger-risking yourselves, you also could have harm-hurt sister Kezoa!"

Kezoa watched wide eyed. She hardly expected Lewa, of all the Toa, to be able to take disciplinary action…and do it rather well at that.

_He sounds like my dad._ Kezoa noted. _Minus the add-ons._

"Well?" Lewa demanded, planting both hands on his hips and glaring disapprovingly, "What have you-now to speak-say for yourselves?"

"We're much-sorry, Toa…" the Le-Matoran mumbled.

"It's my fault, Lewa." Kezoa added solemnly, "I went along with it when I should have stopped them instead. I didn't think it would be such a risk…"

Lewa stared at Kezoa for a long moment before he heaved a long sigh and relaxed, turning towards the Le-Matoran.

"As long as you—_all_ of you—do no-longer to try of this again," Lewa said, "You are fine-well unpunished."

The Matoran looked up at Lewa and breathed out a sigh of relief, they assured Lewa they wouldn't do it again, and then went back to their chattering.

Lewa turned back to Kezoa and shrugged, "Le-Matoran," he said brightly, "can't right-live with them, can't right-live without them."

Kezoa grinned at the familiar saying.

"Lewa, what brings you here?"

"You well-know how the Moto-hub is having problem-glitches?" Lewa answered, "Well, I've been kindly-asked to take a long-look around the chutes and quick-figure out what the problem-wrong is."

"Oh…" Kezoa nodded, "Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Sure did." Lewa said grimly. He pointed to the chute that they had escaped from moments before, "Did you quick-see that magnetic-warp in the tube-shield?"

"The question is 'how could I not?'"

"That was the start-beginning stages of a force-sphere." Lewa said.

"What's that?"

"Only the large-biggest catastrophe that could long-ever bring-come into existence!" Lewa cried, flinging his arms out.

"If it's so important," asked Kezoa, "shouldn't you tell someone about it?"

Lewa blinked at Kezoa, then he suddenly jumped a foot in the air, "RAHI DROPPINGS!" he yelled, "I have to quick-tell Kongu!" Lewa whirled around and prepared to take off, but Kezoa reached out and tightly grabbed her Toa brother's wrist.

"Lewa! What about the Matoran?"

Lewa froze and turned to look behind them. The Matoran were watching them, having ceased their chat when Lewa had shouted. Lewa turned to Kezoa and shrugged.

"What would I ever-do without you?"

Kezoa grinned, "Indeed; what would you?"

()()()()()()()()()()

Getting the Matoran down was relatively easy; since all roads lead to home (as she had been told by the Matoran and Lewa himself) the Matoran were simply deposited on solid ground at the foot of the protodermis tube braces. Since Kezoa still had some daylight to burn, she volunteered to help Lewa fix this force sphere.

"The Toa of Air _never_ needs help-assist." He said, waving his hand. He thought for a moment however, and he turned back to Kezoa, "But Kongu well-might."

Kezoa cocked an eyebrow, but something to do is better than nothing, so she stood behind Lewa and wrapped her arms around his neck and they took off as the Matoran waved goodbye. They soared into the atmosphere, and Lewa angled his body in the direction to the south of Le-Metru and breezed by above the city. Kezoa felt like she was hang-gliding, only the wings that kept her aloft were beneath her rather than above her, and she had never been hang-gliding before anyway, so she wouldn't know what wasn't different and what was.

_I imagine that this is pretty darn close, though_.

Soon Lewa began descending, and Kezoa peered over his shoulder to see where they were landing.

A fairly large building was beneath them, it towered high into the sky if you were on the ground, resembling something of the space needle in Seattle, except with green hues and wires and protodermis tubes snaking in, out, and around it. At the top of the building was a platform, which seemed to be where Lewa was headed. There looked to be a control room, just beneath it, and as Kezoa and her brother landed on the landing pad, her suspicions were confirmed when Lewa walked over to the edge of the building and began to climb down without the need of a ladder.

"LEWA!" Kezoa cried out on instinct when she saw him disappear over the edge.

His mask popped back up and he gestured with his hand, motioning her to come over, before he descended back down.

Kezoa sprinted over to where Lewa had gone, leaning over the edge slightly to see Lewa walking on a platform not too far a drop from the roof's edge that lead to a door, leading inside. Slowly, Kezoa followed Lewa's lead, turning around and slowly clambering off of the landing pad, releasing her hold on its edge and landing on the platform just beneath.

There was a moderately strong continuous gust of wind blowing due to her altitude in the sky, and it took a surprising amount of strength to hold on to the handrail as she inched along towards the door that Lewa had gone through. When she reached her destination, safely closing the door behind her and releasing an enormous sigh of relief, Lewa was already deep in a conversation with a sole Matoran sitting inside the control room. The entire room had a control panel of blinking buttons and lights that encircled half of the entire room, and enormous windows that stretched from ground to ceiling, displaying a spectacular view of the city below. Lewa and the Matoran spoke rapidly, and while Lewa spoke calmly, the Matoran sounded like he was going to have an aneurysm.

"—this is not good, I hear-say!" the Matoran was exclaiming, hands waving in the air and his mask twisted in panic, "The force-sphere has gone-already ran-blasted past sections six, forty-eight, and thirty-one, headed sure-straight towards Ta-Metru! If long-allowed to continue-go on this wave-path, it'll fire-explode there and risk-endanger millions of Matoran and quite-really put transportation there on a stop-halt!"

"Don't worry-much, Kongu," Lewa assured airily as Kezoa ambled towards them, "Me and sister-Kezoa will no-doubt quick-stop this force-sphere before it even go-leaves the city. Won't we, sister?"

"Uh, we might," Kezoa said, "if I knew _how_ we were going to do that, exactly."

"Yes, indeed!" the Matoran Kongu demanded, glaring at Lewa expectantly, "pray-tell how you and sister-Kezoa are going to quick-stop this force-sphere?"

"Pull up your map." Lewa asked, gesturing towards the windows.

Kongu flipped around on his chair and reached over to a panel of buttons and typed an algorithm or two before blinds on the front-most window blocked light out and a picture of a map of Le-Metru appeared on the window, outlines in a neon-green against a dark backdrop. Kongu stood up and actually _walked_ on the control panel, avoiding the buttons, to get closer to the map. He studied it for a moment, and then pointed at a spot in the city.

"The force-sphere is close-approximately around this here-area." He said. The spot he pointed to was somewhere in the south-western quadrant of the city. If Kezoa's sense of direction was correct (it had gotten somewhat better in her time thus far), the control tower they were in was in the southernmost tip of the Metru. Lewa and her certainly didn't fly very long to get here from the protodermis tube, and so the amount of distance between them and the approximate position of the force-sphere as of yet didn't appear very great, but that was changed as soon as Lewa asked where the force-sphere was.

Kongu zoomed in on the map, and a red dot appeared in the bottom of the Metru.

"This is where we here-now are," Kongu explained, before the screen began to slide upward, along the path of a highlighted protodermis chute path that had been nearby the tower for quite a while before it stopped, a second red dot appearing on the screen in the middle of the chute path, "and this is here-now where the force-sphere is. It is moving at nineteen mioo a second, though that fast-speed is liable to boost-increase the longer we stop-linger here."

"That's a long ways away…" Kezoa whistled.

"Where is it headed now?" asked Lewa.

"The force-sphere is headed north-east, toward Ta-Metru. It'll be large-fully grown when it find-reaches there, and it will wreck-destroy itself _and_ the tube, taking anything close-near by with it."

"That's not good." Kezoa muttered. Lewa tapped his chin, staring at the map, he pointed at a section of it.

"Why is this area so black-dark?" he asked.

Kongu turned to look. The area was a slice of the city, in the east. It was pretty big, considering the city's size, but on the map the dark section only took up less than a fifth of the map.

"That part-piece of the city is condemned. It was ruin-smashed when Rahi and the Visorak horde went on a long-rampage in the time before time. Turaga Matau said that all hard-work there must stop-cease until we finish repair-building the rest of the Metru before we go there."

"Then why not direct-move the force-sphere there?" asked Lewa, "The force-sphere is still in the lower-end of the island; if we can find a way to push-yank it on a cross-path over to the dead-part of the city, then force-sphere will go 'BOOM!' and no damage-force will happen!"

"That's fantastic!" Kezoa cried, she looked at the map and pointed, "I see a tube junction in the middle of the island! If we can get there before the force-sphere does, then we can move it over to where no harm will happen! Genius, Lewa!"

Kongu grimaced, "Good idea," he said, "but the city is long-old. Junction switches could be hard-rusted over, and if we don't win-succeed, then the force-sphere has a straight-shot towards Ta-Metru."

"Better than giving up." Lewa said. He whipped around towards the door and marched towards it, "Let's wind-fly!"

()()()()()()()()()()

Kongu and Kezoa held on tightly to Lewa as he sped down the protodermis tube, down towards the junction in the middle of the city. Lewa had slowed considerably since the admittance of an additional passenger, but he was still flying mighty quickly above the city rooftops as he flew. Kongu kept casting furtive glances down at the protodermis tube they were following, trying to spot the force-sphere, but it wasn't him that spied it—it was Kezoa.

"There! I see it!" she yelled, pointing down at the tube. Kongu and Lewa quickly turned their heads and followed her finger down the length of the cylinder, and sure enough, there was the force-sphere; the near-invisible ball of energy whipped and whirled items and debris around like it was a hurricane, occasionally breaking the magnetic sheath surrounding it. Though the sphere was going fast, Lewa went faster—in no time he caught up to the sphere and blazed past it, his stomach nearly touching the chute. Kezoa swiveled her head behind her, trying to lay sight on the force-sphere again, but it was already out of view. They went on for quite a while longer before Kongu spoke up:

"The junction!" Kongu yelled. Kezoa looked up to see two platforms, one atop the other sticking out from the side of an uninhabited building, and on the lowermost outcrop was a lever, and the protodermis tube beside it split cleanly into two parts: one route went straight, and if Kezoa squinted her eyes she could see the rising red factory towers of Ta-Metru. The other branch lead back into the depths of Le-Metru, and supposedly over towards the irredeemable decrepit sector of the city.

"Drop-off time!" Lewa warned. He lifted his altitude slightly higher, angling his body towards the junction platforms. He aimed a little too high, and when Kezoa released her hold on Lewa, she and Kongu landed on the topmost one, scattering a flock of large Gukko birds resting nearby. Lewa did a sharp turn and headed back off in the direction of the force-sphere.

"_Where are you going?!_" Kezoa yelled after him, but his green form had already disappeared into the distance.

"Now's your one-chance!" Kongu cried, pushing Kezoa towards the edge, "Pull the switch-lever, and move-yank the protodermis junction into the lost-abandoned sector of the city!"

Kezoa didn't have to be shoved twice. She ran towards the end and leaped over, using one hand to swing back and landing square on her feet a yard before the lever. Though her arm felt strained and her knees screamed in complaint to the harsh landing, Kezoa surged forward and wrapped her fingers around the lever and gave it a sharp tug. Expecting it to give under her force, she was quite taken aback when after her hard yank the lever didn't budge.

Confused, she tried again, harder this time.

The lever didn't even so much as squeak.

"Sister-Kezoa, what's the matter-wrong?!" Kongu cried out from the platform above, "Why haven't you switch-pulled the junction yet?!"

"THE LEVER IS STUCK!" Kezoa screamed, desperately pulling on the stick with all her might.

"WHAT?!"

Kezoa quickly threw a glimpse farther up the protodermis tube. She could see the force-sphere, barreling down towards the tube junction at high-speed, with Lewa close behind, dipping and twirling over the wires the draped down from the platforms and rooftops above him and tube. She didn't know why he was following it; maybe so that he could make sure that he could see the sphere off towards the abandoned sector. But at this rate, that wasn't going to happen unless Kezoa was able to switch the junctions.

There was a loud CLANG beside her, and Kongu was suddenly there, having jumped off of the dais above to help her pull the lever.

He grabbed the switch and started pulling, but it wasn't long before both of them began to tire.

"Don't give up, Kongu!" Kezoa grunted, pulling back hard.

"I…WILL…NEVER!" Kongu assured loudly, heaving with her.

The lever started to move. It inched backward slowly, and as it did Kezoa could see the currents inside the tube begin to shift and turn towards the desired direction.

"We're doing it!" Kezoa hollered. She quickly glanced back towards the inbound length of the chute and saw the force-sphere dangerously close. Lewa continued to bob and weave in and out of the wires; he was so close that Kezoa could see the panic in his eyes as he watched them trying to pull the switch, his gaze quickly switching from them to the junction in the tube, which was still moving and shifting.

"We're gonna make it!" Kongu yelled, turning Kezoa's attention back towards the lever. She pulled harder, and she and Kongu got the lever halfway—

—before it snapped.

Kezoa and Kongu screamed in surprise when they found themselves tumbling backward, the stick in their hands. The backlash caused the remainder of the lever to flip back towards its initial spot, rapidly changing the currents inside the tubing back to its original destination. Their mouths dropped in shock.

Kezoa heard a snap, like a whip cracking or a rope breaking. Kezoa on instinct threw her head up and just managed to catch the sight of Lewa plummet into the force-sphere, wrapped in broken vines and wires, once whole and entire above the protodermis tube now whipping and dangling above it.

"LEWA?!" Kezoa screamed, jumping to her feet.

Lewa was indeed inside the chute now; he was whirling around, pushed by the currents inside the sphere as it raced onward, towards Ta-Metru. For a while, Kongu and Kezoa just stood there, their mouths on the floor. Unbelievably, they remained that way for a long time before Kezoa looked down at Kongu.

"What do we do now?"

Kongu's mouth waggled, as if he was trying to say something but the words either weren't formulating or they were refusing to leave his throat.

"We-we…we tell Toa Tahu." Kongu croaked, "Quick-tell him a force-sphere is on its way; quick-tell him to save-move all Matoran away from the chute-path."

"What about Lewa?"

Kongu looked down at his feet, swallowing hard. He didn't answer, but Kezoa already knew.

"We can't leave him in there." She muttered, "We can't."

"But we can't possibly hurry-do anything!" Kongu exploded, "No one-person has gone inside a force-sphere and long-lived to sing-tell about it! Not since the time before time!"

"And who did it in the time before time?" asked Kezoa.

"Toa Matau, of the Toa Metru!"

"Matau? Like Turaga Matau?"

"Yes! They are of the one-same! But Turaga can't jump-chute now!"

"Not him," Kezoa said, "me."

Kongu's eyes grew wide.

"You don't—"

"Vakama said that Matau was visiting Ta-Metru, to oversee the protodermis chutes within the city. It's a straight shot from here to there, and the protodermis chute the force-sphere is inside winds all up and around the city! If we can get to Ta-Metru before the force-sphere does—"

"Impossible!" Kongu waved his arms wildly, "Unfeasible! Ridiculous! Flat out load of Rahi-dropping-phooey-dung!"

Kezoa looked up. There, not to far from where she stood, was a large Gukko bird preening its wings. She turned to Kongu with a knowing look.

"If there's anything I've learned from my stay here," she told him softly, creeping forward toward the animal, "it's that nothing is impossible."

()()()()()()()()()()

Turaga Vakama and Turaga Matau knew something was wrong when they were getting a flurry of communications back and forth between Le-Metru's central Moto-hub and Ta-Metru's south-westernmost one. Turaga Vakama was outside on the loading dock, directly adjacent to the protodermis chute as it chugged along, bringing with its currents passengers and goods being transported between the Metru's. Matau was at the control panel inside the Hub itself, and he was talking to a messenger Matoran that had up until recently been riding on a Gukko bird, parked outside of the building. After the message was delivered, the green Turaga shook his head and turned to Vakama, walking out of the building.

"Not good-bright news, brother." he said. His voice may have quavered as evidence of their old age, but he still spoke so quickly that Vakama had to process Matau's sentence twice before he understood what he said, and even still had to ask what he meant.

"What are you talking about, Matau?"

"Matoran quick-tell me of force-sphere development in Le-Metru." Turaga Matau answered, looking genuinely troubled, "brother-Toa Lewa and sister-Kezoa as well as Kongu went to stop it, and haven't come-returned back while the force-sphere still quick-moves all around the city. It's cross-headed over to Ta-Metru, and will be at full-maturity then."

"So it will explode upon entering the Metru?"

"Yes-indeed."

Now Vakama was concerned.

"Are you certain there is no news pertaining to the Toa or Kongu?"

"Absolutely none."

Vakama sighed heavily and turned to the messenger Matoran, who was giving his Rahi a treat for its service.

"Contact Toa Tahu. Tell him that a force-sphere is headed this way from Le-Metru and that it is liable to implode upon entry into Ta-Metru. Have him make sure that there are no Matoran in immediate danger, and then afterwards head to Po-Metru to tell the builders that they have to send materials to potentially replace a protodermis chute brace—"

The Gukko bird began to squawk, flapping its wings urgently and trying to pull itself out of its handler's grip. The Matoran cried out and tried to calm his beast, but it was having none of it and it succeeded in yanking itself away from its post, but pulling the messenger Matoran with it.

"_Look_! _Up there_!" a different Matoran cried, pointing.

Lifting their heads to see, the Turaga and Matoran saw an unusually large Gukko bird bucking and flitting through the air. Its flight pattern was very choppy, and its long beak kept turning around and snapping at something on its back.

"Another Gukko bird?!"

"It's so big!"

"What's it doing here?!"

Turaga Vakama lifted up his hand and shaded his eyes, squinting into the suns as the silhouette of the squirming Rahi came closer and closer to their position. When it was apparent it was going to touch down on their current location, the Turagas whirled around and gestured out of the way, hobbling to the railing around the edges of the dock.

"Go! Run! _It's going to land_!"

The Gukko bird didn't land, however something else did. About ten feet from the ground, two shapes dismounted from the Gukko bird's back and landed hard on the platform. The Gukko bird hissed at them before flapping away as fast as its wings could carry it. The two disembarked passengers of the angry bird groaned, coming to their feet slowly and assessing themselves to see if any injury had been sustained. Turaga Vakama's eyes widened and he breathed out an enormous sigh of relief when he saw that they were Kongu and Toa Nuva Kezoa.

"Oh thank the Great Spirit!" he cried out, shuffling over to them, "Are you two alright?"

"Relatively quick-speaking." Kongu grumbled, pressing his palms against the small of his back and stretching his spine.

"Better than what's going to happen!" Kezoa said, "Did the force-sphere come through yet?!"

"No; we were just about to send for Toa Tahu—"

"No need!" Kezoa looked behind Vakama and laid her eyes on Matau. She quickly strode over to him and knelt down in front of him, "Turaga Matau, you went inside a force-sphere, correct?!"

Both Turaga and the Matoran around them started at her question.

"Yes, but that was a slow-long time ago." Matau answered, startled.

"Teach me how to do it!"

"Are you ill, Kezoa?" Asked Turaga Vakama, coming to her side and pressing a hand against her forehead. She pushed it away furtively, giving him a panicked look.

"I'm fine, Turaga! Listen, this is an emergency!" she cried, turning back to Turaga Matau, "Lewa's inside it! He got caught against some wires and he fell inside the tube and got sucked up! I need to get inside to rescue him, or the Toa Nuva will be down to seven members!"

"Toa Lewa's _inside_ the force-sphere?!" Vakama exclaimed. Turaga Matau also said something along those lines, but he was speaking so quickly and long-winded that nothing could be made out of it, waving his arms in the air animatedly.

"It's right-true, Turaga!" Kongu tromped up beside his elders, he looked just as fearful as Kezoa did, if not more. "I saw it quick-happen with my own two-eyes!"

Matau was still on his spiel, and he continued as Vakama clasped the bottom of his chin between his thumb and forefingers in thoughtfulness. Vakama then sighed again and stepped up to Matau, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Brother," he said, ending Matau's outburst, "Tell her. Lewa's life is at stake."

Matau looked back and forth between Vakama and Kezoa, until he nodded. Vakama pulled his hand away from his brother's shoulder and walked over to the messenger Matoran, still on the landing dock incredibly with his Gukko bird's reigns held tightly between his hands as Matau began to lecture Kezoa about extreme chute-jumping.

"Deliver my earlier message to Toa Tahu." He told the messenger, who nodded, looking slightly frazzled from his ordeal, "Tell him it is of the utmost importance that he heed my call as quickly as possible."

The messenger nodded again and mounted his Rahi. He gave the command to lift-off, and he and the Gukko bird soared away. Turaga Vakama turned back over to where Turaga Matau and Kezoa were, watching and listening as Matau talked and Kezoa listened intently. Vakama frowned, troubled, slightly shaking his head.

"Hopefully, we won't come out of this ordeal with _six_ Nuva remaining." Vakama looked up at the two suns in the sky, "Mata Nui, hear my prayer: guard the lives of our Toa and Matoran, and give Nuva Kezoa the means to succeed…please…"

()()()()()()()()()()

Kezoa stood at the edge of the loading dock, peering in the direction of the oncoming current. She could see quite a distance away—almost a mile's worth—which would help in her trial to come. The Matoran, the Turaga, as well as Kongu were inside the control room, paying close attention to the force-sphere's location, ready to tell her when it was coming. She reviewed Turaga Matau's lecture over and over in her head, making sure that she had everything down to a **T**.

_The force-sphere is strong-moving_. She remembered him saying. _It's never a fine-good idea to tempt the Great Spirit and go-to inside it, but we shall have to have strong-faith in this here-situation._

_You have to be hurry-quick; once you go-to in, you can only get within a body-width's distance between you and the force-sphere. Grab Lewa, and then you'll have to quick-move out of the sphere. Once you two are out, you will either solid-land on a chute-brace or Lewa will have to wind-fly you out. Either way, you'll need to quick-think and quick-move; there's no slow-time for hesitation_!

"Toa Kezoa!" Kongu yelled from inside the building, "Here it hurry-comes!"

Kezoa looked down at the oncoming traffic and saw the force-sphere racing towards them, no doubt with Lewa inside. When she looked closer, she realized with horror that there were also _Matoran_ inside! They were of varying colors, suggesting that they were traveling in the tube the force-sphere was in towards Ta-Metru.

"Turaga!" she turned back towards the building. Both Matau and Vakama leaned their heads out from within the control room, "There are Matoran inside the sphere as well!"

Matau came out of the building, peering around the corner to get a look at the approaching force-sphere. He turned back to Kezoa, and his expression of shock and horror was not helping her morale.

"You will just have to grab them as well as Lewa!" Vakama supplied, "You'll have to be even quicker!"

"Oh, great…!" Kezoa breathed, fear saturating her voice. The moment she heard her own voice, she mentally slapped herself. She couldn't be scared. She was a Toa, and she had a mission to complete!

Kezoa took a deep breath and plunged into the protodermis chute, remembering what Turaga Matau warned her about how close she could get to the sphere to grab everyone inside, but also what point was the point of no return before she would be sucked in.

Kezoa kicked her legs as the current pulled her towards the force sphere, and as she came closer she could feel the force sphere pull her inexorably towards it. As she neared, she saw that Lewa had spotted her and had begun to grab the Matoran while trying to remain in an upright position in the swirling whirlpool. Kezoa heard an unmistakable noise of the creaking of something giving under weight or pressure. It was either the huge steel protodermis braces that held up the tube or it was perhaps the tube itself that was giving under the pressure.

_I have to hurry_.

Kezoa reached out to the sphere, keeping a safe enough distance that Lewa could probably reach her without accidentally pulling her into it. Lewa adjusted his hold on some of the Matoran, who clung to him like burrs to a dog or a child to its parent, and reached back. The force sphere was trying to rotate like it normally would, and the forces contained therein was throwing Lewa off-balance since he couldn't use both hands.

However, Lewa's hand was still a few inches away from Kezoa's, and the sound of weight giving way was getting louder and stronger. Kezoa made the motion of clenching her teeth and came closer. Lewa attempted to do to the same, but with them both trying to fight the forces of the sphere, it took a laborious amount of effort and time to get both of them to the point where they could make contact. What felt like minutes passed until Kezoa and Lewa's fingertips touched but then were pulled away again. They were almost there! If only she could get a little closer…

As Kezoa further inched forward toward Lewa, his eyes glanced behind her and his eyes grew big. The moment of distraction to him caused him to loose his equilibrium and he was pulled back into the dizzying tizzy of the force sphere's currents and his hold on the Matoran was released and they all began to fly around the chute.

Kezoa whipped around to see what it was that could possibly cause him to have caused him to lose his concentration for even a moment, and the second she turned around she understood why.

She remembered someone telling her how the protodermis tubes where at least half, if not more, of _the_ mode of transportation of the entire island city. In addition to transporting Matoran from one Metru to the other quickly and efficiently, it also moved captured sedated Rahi in sealed hexagonal cases from whatever Metru it was captured in back to the Onu-Metru archives, _still_ under construction from years of decay, even though the coliseum was nearly finished. It also transferred solid cargo from one working district to the other. And sometimes, that cargo can get rather large.

That was what Lewa had seen, and that was what also caused Kezoa to lose her concentration as well as she stared down at the large cargo, taking up almost the entire protodermis tube, barreling down towards them and the force sphere, its speed multiplying as it came closer.

Kezoa felt the force sphere grab a hold of her, and before she had a chance to orient herself she was sucked into it.

It was an interesting experience, to say the least. She felt like a rag-doll, being pulled and pushed in all directions, the stronger forces giving way to the weaker forces and back again as she was thrown around the small area that was the sphere. But Kezoa didn't have time to dwell on that; none of them did. Because once that huge protodermis cargo reached them, the force sphere would suck it in—despite its considerably smaller size—and use it as an effective battering ram to crush all of them trapped within as well as rip the entire chute apart. It would kill them all.

_Think, Kezoa, think_! She screamed at herself ans she was thrown around the protodermis tube. She felt a Matoran make a desperate grab for her arm, but failed and was blown back to the other side of the protodermis tube before she could even reach back. The forces were just too strong to resist. _Forces…forces_? _Forces_!

She didn't know if this necessarily applied in this world, but she knew that if there was a positive, there would be a negative as well, and vice versa. A force sphere was caused by the outer casing of the protodermis tube folding in on itself and cutting off from the main source and being pulled along by the current, taking in all around it. Dion said that her mask allowed her to see aural pulse…which was a type of force, wasn't it? It was the residue left behind by the force of living things.

But couldn't she also control it as well?

Kezoa turned on her mask, but she closed her eyes to keep the flood of visual stimulus overwhelmed her before she could set her plan into motion—and that would be very deadly indeed, with the enormous load of cargo coming down upon them fast.

_Concentrate. The force sphere is made of Force. If you can find a way to grasp it, to use it…_

Her fingertips brushed on something, and her eyes snapped open in response. In her enhanced field of vision she saw what the last piece of the puzzle. The energy that propelled the sphere. It was everywhere; in front of her, behind her, all around her and the others, enfolding them. What she had brushed her fingertips against was the edge of the force sphere's limits. At the moment she saw the force, her mask began to work on its own; neutralizing the energies that had previously pulled her willy-nilly around the protodermis sphere until she could remain upright within. However, all around her, the Matoran and Lewa were still being pushed around as she had been only moments ago. She had to magnify the nullifying energy that her mask was outputting so that it completely eliminated the anomaly before the large cargo got to them, and it was getting close.

Kezoa instinctively curled into as tight a ball as she could, while focusing on her mask to gather power within her body. She could fell the power gathering within her, pulled into her body from all around her, transforming, _creating_. This energy swelled up from within her chest, as if just behind her heart, and grew and grew. This was not her mask. This was _her_! As Tahu could control fire, Onua the earth, and Lewa the strength of the wind and air, Kezoa had found her element! _Hers_! It was the very source of life, the energy that filled and compelled all things to move and live, that her mask enabled her to see! It filled up the mortal confines of her vessel, squirming around and attempting to find a way to escape and release its energy.

_Not yet,_ she told it, _not yet._

And indeed, the chance came when—though she could not see it—the large cargo was no more than a hundred yards away and gaining quickly. The energy she had created had filled her to the brim, and unable to control it any longer, she released it by bursting out of her fetal position, and all at once, the energy exploded. In a split second, the force-sphere's currents were nullified, and all grew calm. But Kezoa had produced too much energy, and it still searched for a way out, this time from the boundaries of the protodermis chute.

Except the energy that bound the tube together was of a less complicated kind. Another millisecond after the force sphere was canceled out, the energy escaped the tube all at once—forming a balloon of energy that bulged inside the tube before it caused the chute to burst, flinging liquid protodermis everywhere. In that brief second, Kezoa, Lewa, and the Matoran escaped the protodermis canal…though not intentionally.

When the energy was released, it formed enough propulsion that it threw all of the liquid protodermis inside the tube in a fifty-foot radius outward, and in that second they were all hovering frozen in mid air spread-eagled, in disbelief what had just happened—even Kezoa wasn't quite sure what had just transpired. Matter of fact, the forces that Kezoa had released had even neutralized gravity so that for longer than normal they floated there, as if frozen in time. But that didn't matter as soon as that reverse energy dispersed and gravity once again took hold and began to pull them back towards the planet's surface.

The Matoran began to yell as they dropped, and Kezoa looked up just in time to see the energy (her mask was still on) that held the protodermis tube together began to knit and merge together to form a the proper encasing for the chute.

Half a second later, the enormous cargo blasted by that newly healed area of the tube. The force sphere was destroyed, and they had all made it out alive with no collateral and minimum property damage.

"I did it…" Kezoa whispered. Then, as the full gravity of what she actually_ did_ hit her, she pumped her fist in the air and screamed: "I DID IT!"

An arm wrapped around her waist and suddenly she was pulled into Lewa's body.

"You won't be able to _do_ anymore-thing if we crash-hit the ground first!" he barked as he pulled out his air katana's and began to fly, angling himself towards the other Matoran. Kezoa, suspended from underneath Lewa, reached out and grasped all three of them and pulled them to her and Lewa as they came by, and before they hit the ground Lewa balked upward and they flew upward high into the air. At that moment, gravity seemed to reverse yet again and Lewa was propelled upward at what felt like almost launch speed, the clouds hurtling toward them slowly at first, then accelerating in their approach as Lewa and Kezoa neared until they passed them. They continued to climb until they slowed in descent, and Lewa did a slow back flip to upright himself and began to drift back downward towards the city in a graceful spiral.

When Maltegere kidnapped her and lost her over the jungles of the island of Mata Nui, she had only caught glimpses of it, and honestly at the time she could have cared less what the island looked like; she was more concerned with her health and mortality then. But now that her health was not in danger, she had a good look at the island city of Metru Nui, and in the peaceful descent towards it she could appreciate what she was seeing:

It was still under repair, to say the least, but before the Matoran got here it must have looked a lot worse before. Now, the city was almost up and back to what it must have looked like in its full glory days, and it was magnificent.

When they broke through cloud-level, the gleaming towers of Ko-Metru glinted at her in the suns' rays, ice forming on the towers from the sheer height of them, though she had been told by the Turaga that they used to grow much higher back in their hey-day. Over in Ga-Metru, the water was a gorgeous blue, and the domes of the buildings there looked like bubbles rising from the sea at this altitude. Onu-Metru was pocketed with black craters of steel-like solid protodermis; all around their edges were no doubt rows upon rows of honeycombs containing history and lore. She had not been to either Ta-Metru or Po-Metru, but they looked brilliant nonetheless; Po-Metru was indeed a desert, but she could see great canyons of natural protodermis rising up, making up the entire Metru itself. She could not see any buildings or signs of life, but she new that Pohatu and the other Matoran must be hard at work there. The same was true over in Ta-Metru: now that she getting a bird's-eye view of it, it looked like the city was actually one big factory, and indeed she was correct in her assumption; columns of smoke, steam, and fire rose into the air, evidence of living, working Matoran there.

And then there was the coliseum; her home for who knew how long. It towered high above it all; higher than even the crystalline knowledge towers of Ko-Metru. It was now fully repaired, and it shone almost bronze in the sunslight. She felt a surge of pride, having remembered all those hours and weeks spent building alongside the Turaga and the Matoran to repair the massive tower. It made her happy to see that all their work was indeed for _something_, if not for the sight of the colossal building completed.

Even as they neared Le-Metru—a chaotic mess of tangled, overlapping buildings and protodermis tubes and silver blimps flying through the air—and headed back over to Ta-Metru, Kezoa felt an uncontrollable feeling of joy rise within her. Why? This wasn't her home, this wasn't her city, and yet it was more beautiful than any of the other cities that she had been in, back on Earth.

True, this wasn't her birth planet, but even though her coming here was at the time for her a tragic misunderstanding, the knot of doubt in her stomach vanished and she was free to truly feel happy.

She was a human, but now she is a Toa.

She was needed, relied upon, by the inhabitants of the city, and for the most part she felt loved by them.

She has a new family of six to replace hers, now no doubt vanished from the realm of the living.

This was her home. And she was happy to be here.

*()()()()()()()()()()*

Zeke twiddled his thumbs nervously. His parents sat beside him. Their hands were on each other's knees, as if holding on to one another would support them in this hour of need, since their already weakened bodies and spirits were finally going to be broken here and now.

Zeke looked up at the inspector.

He looked like a cold and calculating man; square glasses and a black suit with slick hair. He was looking at a folder while adjusting those glasses, the lenses white due to the angle of the sun coming in from the window behind him.

He placed the folder on the table. On its face was a flyer labeled with big red letters MISSING, beneath it information pertaining to the person it was proclaiming. And above it all was a picture of Kezoa, taken of their last family photo shoot, which was taken before her disappearance some time ago. Long enough that the police had called Zeke and his family down to the station to inform them of a very important decision.

Zeke pursed his lips and looked up at the inspector.

He adjusted his glasses again.

"I'm sorry." He said, "Too much time has passed. This case has grown cold."

Zeke looked down at his knees. His mother started to cry.

The inspector shook his head, a flash of sorrow and regret crossing his face temporarily. Whether it was genuine or not, Zeke would never know.

"This case is closed indefinitely. I'm truly sorry for your loss."

*()()()()()()()()()()*

"…Hey! Hey! Toa-sister, wake up!"

Kezoa blinked rapidly before she opened her eyes fully and saw Lewa kneeling over her. He flew a hand over her mask.

"Are you fine-alright, sister?" he asked.

Kezoa lifted her head and saw that she was back at the Hub, with Kongu, Turaga Vakama, Turaga Matau and the others (the Matoran working inside the hub as well as the ones that she and Lewa saved) huddled around her. Kezoa heaved herself up to a sitting position and rubbed her mask instinctively.

"I'm fine. Did I pass out?"

"Yeah, before we soft-landed!" a Le-Matoran said, "Frightened-scared us, you did!"

"Yes; it was certainly enough to make me wonder if you went to meet the Great Spirit!" Vakama breathed out loudly, placing a hand on his chest.

Kezoa smiled sheepishly and rubbed her head, "Sorry, guys. I don't know why that happened…"

"I do." Turaga Matau said, at that break-neck pace of his.

All eyes turned to him.

"You quick-destroyed the force sphere with your Toa-power." He explained, "Large-big enough that it broke-burst the protodermis chute! To quick-cause a force sphere to go-vanish, it must take great-much force-energy, with so-little practice, it certainly-must have happen-caused your body to shut-down." Turaga Matau laughed raucously, "I wouldn't make-do that stunt again so-soon if I were you, Toa-sister Kezoa!"

Kezoa smiled, "Duly noted."

"A Toa that can move-force energy?" asked Lewa, he stood up and offered a hand to Kezoa, "I've never sound-heard of that before!"

Kezoa took Lewa's hand and he pulled her to her feet.

"I haven't either, to be honest." Kezoa said, "I'm glad it worked, though, otherwise we would have been pancakes!"

The group turned to her and gave her a strange look.

"Pan—what?"

Kezoa laughed and waved her hand in assurance.

"Never mind. It's not important to me anymore."

* * *

AN:

HAIIIII YAIII FORCES! HAIIIIII YAIII FORCES!

The thesaurus is a very handy tool.


	10. Canyon of Whispers! Beowulf's True Fear?

Disclaimer: I do not own Bionicle, or its parent company. This story was created for the entertainment of the writer and the readers and does not reflect anything on Bionicle, Lego, or any of its affiliates.

* * *

She was bruised and battered, but she wasn't going to allow it to stop her. Kezoa shook her hands out, loosening the muscles, and rotated her shoulders around. She held in one hand a Kanoka disc launcher while its ammunition was inside of the compartment in her back. How she managed to not only fit the discs as well as her spear would forever be a mystery to her. But as to why she was holding in her hand a disc launcher—a weapon she had very little experience with, in contrast to her spear—was going to be revealed very soon.

Kezoa glanced around. The terrain around her rolled and banked in sheer cliffs, hills, and sloping depressions, and all of it was rock-solid. She had fallen multiple times, or had gotten thrown to the ground, and could attest to its stiffness as well as its durability.

She couldn't see him anywhere.

Then again, though, he had moved since she had last managed to land a hit on him. Kezoa lifted two fingers to her lips and blew out a stark whistle. The ground beneath her feet began to pulse and shake in a rhythm similar to a heartbeat. Based upon her general information she gathered from the sound and frequency as well as the strength of the vibrations, she knew that Beowulf was coming, and he was not far off. She saw a wisp of movement in her right peripheral vision, and she quickly whipped around to see her target vanish into the hills.

"Beowulf, hurry up!" she yelled.

She heard a snort, awfully close, and Kezoa turned and saw her loyal pet galloping toward her, three or so paces in front and away from her body as not to collide with her. He continued running, even as he neared. He wasn't going to stop, and Kezoa was going to have to try and attempt a moving mount.

Kezoa switched her hold on her disc launcher and extended her right hand, reaching out. Beowulf, without slowing, strode by her, and when he did Kezoa's fingers latched onto the corner of his shoulder blade. Before she even made contact with him, Kezoa coiled her legs quickly and sprang, swinging her left leg over Beowulf's flank, which slapped against his side and Kezoa found herself sitting upon his back.

Yes! Success!

She didn't pause to cheer, but quickly moved the launcher back into her right hand, reached into her compartment on her back with her left, and pulled out a random disc, hoping it would do the damage she needed it to.

As she loaded the launcher, she and Beowulf rounded a hillside, and within a crater between hills her target stood, still running away like he believed he had a chance.

Kezoa lifted the launcher at the ready, steadied it with both her hands, wrapped her finger around the trigger, took aim, and fired.

The disc shot out of the launcher with little recoil, it blazed over to her target painting lines of energy across the air as it flew straight and true—and flew past the mark.

Her target was forced into a spin from the amount of force generated from the gust of wind blowing past it, but the crudely constructed protodermis dummy straightened out and though now it rolled backwards on its set tracks it still moved unharmed.

Kezoa hissed in frustration. "Aw, sh—!"

She couldn't finish her curse, however, as Beowulf's left fore claw caught against a raised hexagonal column that was jutting out a little too jagged from the mimic hillside. Beowulf uttered a squeak of surprise and tripped, somersaulting head-over-heels into the arena floor, throwing Kezoa off his back just before he could squish her. She did a full front flip in the air before landing flat on her stomach, the disc launcher clattering out of reach as the wind was knocked out of her.

There were several cries of sympathetic pain and alarm that came from a distance as Kezoa, huffing hard, got to her hands and knees.

Beowulf warbled and moaned, he flipped over onto his stomach and immediately began to tend to his wound, licking his now hangnail claw as if it would help any. Kezoa looked behind her at him to make sure that he wasn't further injured before snapping, hurt and breathing hard:

"I'm…fine…too…thanks."

Beowulf looked at her and gave her a chirp, then returned to his licking session. Kezoa flapped an arm at him in annoyance and staggered to her feet.

Four Matoran—one from Po-Metru, another Ga-Metru, and two from Ta-Metru—raced over to Kezoa to help her up, even though she was already halfway there.

"Are you alright, Toa?" the Ga-Matoran asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" Kezoa coughed, managing to get some air back.

"That was one of your coolest wipeouts yet!" the Po-Matoran cried.

"Yeah! Next to the one when you fell off a cliff and landed on the dummy's head before doing a handstand and then falling onto your back!" his Ta-Matoran friend cried, the Po-Matoran beside him bust out laughing.

The Ga-Matoran and the second Ta-Matoran glared at the other two as they helped Beowulf to his feet and retrieved the disc launcher.

"If you're not going to make yourself useful, Hewkii, then you may as well flatten the arena once more!" the Ga-Matoran admonished to the Po-Matoran. He rotated on his heel and raced back towards the area he had just come from, leaping into the lower balcony behind a control panel which looked to be an exact mimic of the field, just ten times smaller. His fingers hovered over it for a moment, searching for something on its face, before he touched the highest point on the mini-arena.

The hexagonal panels shook beneath Kezoa's feet, and the pillars that rose high into the air slowly began to sank, their sides rubbing against one another as they lowered into the floor, once again becoming a flat surface.

"Shall we try again?" asked the Ga-Matoran.

"No," Kezoa said, shuffling over to the disc launcher and picking it up, "I think I'm done for the day. Beowulf looks finished too."

Beowulf stood up and gingerly put his weight on the injured paw. When it passed his pain test, he licked the paw and swiped it over his forehead and eyes, like a cat.

"Are you sure?" asked a Ta-Matoran, "You've only just started practicing; the suns are barely in the middle of the sky!"

Kezoa lifted her hand above her eyes and shielded them from the light as she looked up. The suns were indeed in the middle of the sky, but she didn't _just_ start practicing. She had been training in the arena before the Matoran got there; she had woken up early specifically so she _could_ train, except those practices that she had performed by herself were not a test of her long-range weapon capabilities, as well as her aptitude to fight while upon Beowulf's back, but they were a test of her own skills—specifically, her newly discovered ability to alter energy, and turn it from passive into active and vice versa.

She wasn't sure what she could do with her powers, but what she _did_ know was that she can muster up enough to nullify a fully mature force-sphere. But Kezoa was focusing her abilities on one area—the combat aspect. Picking things up and throwing them around. So far, she hadn't had much luck with it.

If she couldn't figure it out, then she couldn't use her powers to protect herself and the Matoran, even though Maltegere had not surfaced for quite some time now.

"I'm good." Kezoa told the Matoran, "I'm going to find the Turaga and see if they have anything they need me to do."

"Looks like you don't have to!" Hewkii yelled from the balcony, pointing.

Kezoa turned to where Hewkii was directing to, and from one of the many entrances that led into the arena, Turaga Onewa of Po-Metru staggered out, limping towards them with his cane.

"Ah," he said with a smile, "I was told I would find you all here."

"Honored Turaga!" the Matoran cried, quickly bowing in respect as he approached, Kezoa following the motion.

"Kezoa, I have been told that you are training here to better use your abilities."

"You heard right, Turaga." Kezoa nodded. Hewkii had sprung out of the balcony and was running towards them as fast as his legs could carry him.

"And how has that been going?" Onewa cocked his head to one side.

Kezoa peeked out of the corner of her vision at the backwards dummy, still standing. She sighed and slumped, shaking her head in disappointment.

"Not very well, I'm afraid…"

"Do not worry," Onewa assured, "if you work at it hard enough, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it."

"Thank you, Turaga…." Kezoa sighed. Not exactly what she wanted to hear, but it would have to do.

"Did I catch you at a bad time?" asked Onewa.

"No—I'm done for the day." Kezoa said.

"Then I am in need of your assistance," Onewa began, "in Po-Metru, we are about to make very important steps in construction."

"Construction? Of what kind?" Kezoa knew that the Po-Matoran belonged to the carving class—they created sculptures and building parts that were used all around the Metru.

"Very important." Onewa stated solemnly, nodding.

Kezoa looked down at the Matoran, and they looked back up at her as Hewkii ran up beside them. They were just as confused as she was.

"Alright…?" Kezoa urged.

"We are about to build a critical structure in Po-Metru. If it is successful, then we will proceed to build one in every Metru. Toa Pohatu and a survey group of Matoran have begun scouting the Canyon of Unending Whispers, up north in Po-Metru. I would like you and Hewkii to meet up with them and assist them with their analysis."

"Me, Turaga?" Hewkii pointed to himself.

Onewa nodded again, "I figured you could guide Kezoa to Po-Metru, since she had not been there before, and also assist in the survey group as well. I request that you leave as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Turaga." Hewkii and Kezoa bowed.

Onewa gave a stout nod—his third one—and turned around to begin hobbling back towards the innards of the coliseum, no doubt to hold conference with the other Turaga and then head to Po-Metru himself.

"You guys going to be okay while I'm gone?" Hewkii asked teasingly.

A Ta-Matoran elbowed him playfully, "Yeah, we'll be fine. Try not to be gone _too_ long, though."

The Matoran laughed amongst each other and Kezoa walked over to Beowulf, lying on his stomach and basking in the suns on the now flat floor. She knelt down and checked the injured claw; there was a thin ring of blood where the claw met paw, but it already looked like old blood. Beowulf was a hardy beast; he often got hurt, since he was big, a goofball, and often times glaringly clumsy, but nothing was ever too fatal for him.

"You ready to go to Po-Metru, Beowulf?" she asked.

Beowulf chirped and licked her cheek with the tip of his tongue.

Kezoa motioned Hewkii over, and he hurried to her side. Kezoa gave Hewkii a leg up, letting him mount Beowulf first, and then taking Beowulf's muzzle in her hand. She made a clicking noise in her mouth, pulling Beowulf in the direction she wanted to go. Beowulf complied, clomping slowly behind her as they headed towards the large entrance leading into the elevator. The Matoran waved goodbye to them as Kezoa pulled the lever next to the door into the downward position. The now working elevator shook to life, having been thankfully repaired a while ago, and they plunged down to the ground level of the coliseum. Beowulf had gotten used to the shift of gravity within the box, and he no longer jittered anxiously whenever Kezoa led him up and down the many levels of the coliseum. When they reached the ground level, Kezoa maneuvered Beowulf around the other clustered Matoran bustling about, doing their own work.

Reaching the outdoors, Kezoa released Beowulf's nose and slid her hand along his flank until she came to a space just behind his ribcage. Kezoa raised her arms up and jumped, locking her elbows on the other side of Beowulf's side. She used this leverage to boost a leg up and come to an upright sitting position behind Hewkii.

"Alright, Hewkii;" Kezoa said, leaning to the side slightly to look at him, "tell us which direction we're going in."

Hewkii lifted his finger and pointed to a region off to their right. "Po-Metru is one of the northern regions of the city," Hewkii said, "next to Ga-Metru. Except, Ga-Metru is in the north-east and Po-Metru is in the north-west."

Kezoa shifted her weight, using her body to push Beowulf in the direction Hewkii was pointing.

"North-west it is." She said. She slapped her ankles against Beowulf's flanks, and he took off in a loping gallop towards Po-Metru.

()()()()()()()()()()

Their entry into Po-Metru was evident when the highway leading into the Metru vanished and was traded with rough rocky paths bordered with towering cliff faces. As Hewkii lead Kezoa and Beowulf deeper and deeper into the Metru, the canyon that was the city regularly transformed from wide corridors to not so much ones, and then sometimes they broke away completely to reveal vast expanses of fields, with soaring pillars of stone raising high into the air, Po-Matoran working around and even on them. They cut through several carver settlements, always slowing down to a walk.

She found the entire Metru amazing. Its inhabitants were gruff and always seemed to be bending over a crafting table, Kezoa was amazed regardless at their devotion to their craft, and the landmarks were absolutely astounding to her—massive statues and other items that, she was told, were related to construction around the island littered the sculpture fields in a feeling of controlled chaos.

Though the entire Metru was a canyon, Hewkii told her that they were headed to the northernmost tip of the island, to a large chunk of the city dubbed the "Canyon of Unending Whispers."

"The back story to that place must be charming…" Kezoa had muttered.

After many more impromptu tours through sculpture fields and carver settlements, all taken a relatively quick paces, when they entered the canyon, it became clear that it wasn't a canyon; it was a _labyrinth_.

The hallways were very tight to squeeze through—Kezoa had to slow Beowulf to a walk in order for her and her company to be able take the tight corners that were often present around every bend. The canyon had many dips and climbs, and in some places, there were even enormous, open-skied sections that were multi-tiered terraces; walkways suspended over one another, leading to different pathways cut into the walls. Several times, these bridges gave out beneath them, and they had to either sprint across the bridge to avoid getting caught in the downfall or select a different path.

All during this fantastic quest, it soon became evident to Kezoa that Hewkii didn't really have an idea where he was going.

She didn't say anything at first, but when they entered into a particularly claustrophobic vicinity of the canyon, just after passing one of these multi-leveled clearings she began to have her doubts.

Hewkii was looking around at their surroundings, and he had been doing this ever since they entered the Canyon of Unending Whispers. Beowulf was getting nervous for some reason, and Kezoa increasingly felt trapped.

When she had enough of the quiet game, Kezoa leaned over slightly.

"Hewkii, how much farther do we have?"

"Well, Turaga Onewa said that the survey group was centering their search particularly in the northern tip of the island," Hewkii said. He tried to sound confident, but his voice cracked at the end of his sentence, "so it stands to reason that we're…uh, headed that way, of course!"

"Uh-huh…" Kezoa nodded.

She peered over Hewkii's side and saw Beowulf's tongue hanging out of his mouth, its tip nearly touching the ground.

"Hey, Hewkii, how about we find a clearing and give Beowulf a breather?" she asked, gesturing towards Beowulf.

Hewkii nodded all too eagerly.

"No problem!" he said.

Several twists and turns later, Kezoa, Beowulf, and Hewkii came across a break in the close-fitting canyon walls; it was a relatively medium sized clearing, but it was big enough for Kezoa to move Beowulf off to the side and allow him to sit down and take a break. There were boulders and pebbles littered all across the scene, and Beowulf selected a spot in the middle of rounded stones, digging out a little nest for himself and nestling into the makeshift alcove.

Kezoa leaped down, Hewkii jumping off before Kezoa could offer him a hand. Immediately, Hewkii went to the center of the clearing and propped his hands on his hips, looking up into the distant sky as if he were trying to gather his bearings. Kezoa lifted her arms in the air and pulled her muscles, stretching her legs and standing on her toes.

_I feel like I've been inside a car for six hours_…Kezoa thought. She began to take an easy stroll around the berth of the clearing.

"Hey, Hewkii," Kezoa asked casually, "do you have any idea where we are?"

"Yeah, yeah; sure I do!" Hewkii waved a hand nonchalantly in her direction,"I mean it's my own Metru, for crying out loud! I may have been going back and forth between here and the coliseum, but it's no problem, really—!"

Kezoa cocked her head in Hewkii's direction, cocking an eyebrow and giving him a knowing look.

"…You know I'm winging it, don't you…?" Hewkii asked cautiously.

Kezoa shrugged, "Maybe. My sense of direction is pretty terrible, so we could be lost and I wouldn't even know it."—even though she _did_, she grasped with a quickly suppressed with a start—"Are we?"

Hewkii stood there with a sheepish expression on his face, as if torn between something. He sighed and slumped.

"Yeah. I don't know where the heck we are."

Kezoa pursed her lips and nodded. She took a couple steps more as Hewkii trudged over to Beowulf and plopped onto his behind, slouching against Beowulf's back. Kezoa looked around the arena indifferently, contemplating what they would do next. It was possible to scale the walls of the clearing, to try and get a better view of where they are, but Beowulf couldn't climb sheer cliff faces, and Kezoa couldn't stand the thought of leaving him behind.

So instead, when Kezoa spotted a stone that stood on its end, pointing to the sky, Kezoa decided to try something.

Kezoa turned her mask on and pulled a fist up to her cheek before violently lashing out, releasing a small amount of energy that she had been storing in mask. It visibly cut through the air and made a loud whipping sound, causing both Hewkii and Beowulf to jump as it hit the stone she was aiming at. The stone wiggled, swinging back and forth as if a slightly strong gust of wind had hit it. She hissed and snapped her fingers in frustration.

"Are you trying to knock that stone over?" asked Hewkii.

"No; I'm trying to move it." Kezoa said, "I'm going to lift it up and see if I can throw it out of the canyon."

"That shouldn't be too hard," Hewkii said, coming back to his feet and coming up to her to watch, "have you been practicing?"

"I did. Just this morning."

Apparently, after she used her Toa power—taking energy into her body and shaping it as she liked before bringing it out again—there was a significant cool-down period. During her training courses, she regularly tested the limits to her power in an attempt to shorten the amount of time her mask (or, possibly, her body) needed to recover from the massive amount of energy used to take in and alter the likeness of it around it. If she went too far beyond what she could do, she would pass out and wake up hours later, like what had happened in Le-Metru, after she had destroyed the force-sphere. It had gotten better, both her stamina and the length of time needed to regenerate, but not by much—it had decreased from three day's worth down to twenty-four hours, depending on the amount of energy used and the amount needed.

During her secret pre-dawn private session, she had used her power enough to move a massive statue around the coliseum arena without passing out, she knew that it would take quite some time before she could use it again, but she wanted to change that.

"I have to shorten the cool-down time," Kezoa told Hewkii, "I have to—especially if I'm going to use it in combat against the Makuta."

Hewkii's eye ridges drew together as he stared at Kezoa thoughtfully.

"You think you can do it?" he asked.

"You bet."

Kezoa raised a hand, holding her palm outstretched to the stone. She tightened the muscles and ligaments in her fingers, willing for the stone to move.

_Move_, she commanded internally, _move, move, move, move…_

Her mask hummed, Hewkii watched, and Beowulf sat behind her silently. Her concentration was completely focused on the pebble before her.

_Move, move, move, move, move, move, move…_

She was beginning to tire. Her vision began to blur and warp, her knees began to quiver, and her extended hand started to shake. Kezoa ignored it and continued focusing on the stone, willing it to move, or levitate, or something.

Beowulf started to whine behind her, and Hewkii turned around to see what the matter was.

"What's up, Beowulf?" he asked, "WHOA—!"

Suddenly, there was a shove to her back and Kezoa's concentration was broken, her mask switched off as she went tumbling into the ground. It wasn't until she tried to get back up from being belly-down in the dirt that she realized just how much energy she had inadvertently used. She could barely move her limbs, and all her muscles felt sore, as if she had used all of them in however long she had tried to move the stone.

"Are you okay?!" Hewkii cried, coming to her side and helping her up, "Beowulf just nosed you!"

"That smarts…" Kezoa hissed, forcing herself to roll over and gently take to her feet.

Beowulf whined again and tapped her back again with his nose. She was nearly forced into the dirt again before her flailing arms grabbed onto his muzzle.

"What's the matter, boy?" Kezoa demanded, irked that her practice and thought process had been interrupted.

The Rahi continued to whimper; he was shifting his weight constantly from foot to foot, and his tail was poised and taught, as if ready to strike while his gaze flicked all about the canyon they were in. Hewkii looked around too, but when he looked back to Kezoa, his expression was as befuddled as hers, and he shrugged in confusion, jerking a thumb in Beowulf's direction.

"Beowulf, wha—?" Kezoa started.

There was a loud but distant _crack_, followed by an equally loud sound of a rattle, which caused both Kezoa and Hewkii to jump ten feet in the air. Shortly afterward, there was a hiss and the sound of scales moving against rock—noticeably close to where Hewkii, she, and her Rahi were currently standing. Beowulf yelped and whipped around, beginning to sprint away from the noise. Without meaning to, Kezoa instinctively grabbed Beowulf's tail when he turned, and she found herself being dragged along as he began to sprint back out of the canyon, while Hewkii was left to give chase.

"Beowulf, what's gotten into you?!" she cried. She tightened her grip on her familiar's whip-like extremity and locked her knees, digging her heels into the dirt and forcing Beowulf to stop or risk having his tail pulled off.

The Rahi yelped in pain, he quickly did a sharp turn, his body ramming into the wall and slamming him to a halt. Kezoa released the tail and collided into Beowulf's midsection. His legs pumped and his claws scratched at the ground in a frantic attempt to get going and run away again, and Hewkii arrived on the scene panting hard and shouting about something. Before Beowulf could tear away again, Kezoa lunged over to his head and grabbed his muzzle tightly, pulling his head to the ground to keep him from getting up.

"What's wrong boy?!" she demanded.

"Kezoa!" Hewkii shouted, coming up to her side, "Kezoa, I know that sound, I know—!"

There was another _crack-_rattle sound, considerably closer, and Beowulf howled and tried to break his nose free from Kezoa's grip.

"Stop it!" Kezoa hissed.

His hype infected hers, and when a large, solid object came to a thump in the sand beside her calf, Kezoa shrieked and threw herself into the wall, releasing Beowulf and he took off before he ended up slamming into the dead-end that he had accidentally led them into.

With Beowulf out of the way, Kezoa saw what it was that had landed next to her when Hewkii picked it up and cupped it in his hands, holding it out to her.

It was a ball of some sort—it was larger than a baseball, but smaller than any other ball larger than that. It was made out of metal—or whatever could be considered closest to it here—and had bands molded into the ball that stretched all across its diameter crisscrossed around each other, with short red lines etched into its surface. It was well-used, as it was dented in a number of places and shiny scratches dotted its surface.

"What is it?" asked Kezoa, drawing closer.

Hewkii grinned up at her, "It's a kohlii ball!"

Kezoa heard a whistling sound, and she looked up just in time to see a large brown shape hurtle down from a cliff top and land solidly next to her and Hewkii.

"Toa Pohatu!" Hewkii cried out as Kezoa impulsively jumped backward to avoid getting flattened by the much larger and heavier Toa. Behind Pohatu, four Matoran of two different Metru's were scaling down the cliff that Pohatu had leapt from, and Kezoa was surprised to see that there was an entire crowd of Matoran teeming at the edge of the cliff, watching.

"Hey, Hewkii!" Pohatu boomed, "Nice catch with the kohlii ball; it flew out of bounds."

"Out of bounds?" Kezoa asked.

Pohatu started at her presence, then grinned wildly and walked over to her.

"Hey, little sister!" he thundered, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in tightly for a side-hug. All the air inside Kezoa's lungs escaped her in a big rush, and she stood on one foot trying to keep her balance. She must have looked like a strangled fish in Pohatu's arm, "It's been forever! It's good to see you alive and moving around!"

"Yeah! I'm glad to see you too!" Kezoa wheezed. Pohatu released her and she sucked in a big breath of air. She noticed that Pohatu had a long wooden pole in his hands, and at its top was what looked like a steel hammer head, while on its other end there was a scoop. Upon a quick glance, Kezoa saw that Pohatu was not the only one who was holding this mallet; the Matoran climbing down the cliff also had the hammer-looking poles in their hands. What in the world were they for?

Meanwhile, Hewkii's face had turned hopeful, and as the four Matoran that had scaled the cliff came running down to meet them, Hewkii looked like a child at the prospect of Christmas as he asked: "Are we finally going to build a kohlii field?!"

Pohatu grinned and nodded, releasing a cheer from Hewkii as he threw the ball in his hands in the air. The Toa of Stone easily caught it and he bounced it in his hand as he turned to Kezoa.

"We were practicing in a potential site for the new arena," he told her, "but the field is too small; it wouldn't work to have both the arena and seating in such a small space."

"What's kohlii, though?" Kezoa asked dubiously.

Hewkii's cheering ceased and his mouth dropped.

"You don't know what kohlii is?!" he demanded, "Did they not have it on your island?!"

"Well—?"

"Kohlii is only the best sport _ever_!" Hewkii cried, "It's a sport that requires two players: one to hit the ball around on the arena ground, and the other to guard the goal! It can have any number of teams, and the first team to get the most points wins!"

"Ohh…" Kezoa nodded.

Beowulf moaned piteously. Kezoa swiveled her head around and saw her pet getting up on his feet shakily. He looked up at Kezoa and whined.

"Come on, buddy!" Kezoa waved.

"Whoa!" A Matoran cried, "Is that _really_ your Rahi?!"

"Yep, that's Beowulf." Kezoa grinned; she looked up at Beowulf and saw him beginning to walk towards them, trudging as though he were walking through a swamp.

"Is he okay?" A Ga-Matoran asked.

"Yeah, he's just playing it up." Kezoa said, shaking her head, "He's pretty tough."

Several long tumbles and falls off of the simulated cliffs in the coliseum arena could attest to it, she knew. However, the group of Matoran—Hewkii included—either didn't hear her or didn't care and ran over to Beowulf to help him. At the sight of the Matoran, Beowulf ears perked up and his mouth opened in a smile, his tongue lolling out as he started to pant excitedly like a dog, his tail waving. When they came within reach, Beowulf began giving them his saliva spa treatment, and nudging them with his nose in an attempt to play.

"He's much more sociable than the tales that I've heard." Pohatu said from behind her.

Kezoa gave him a glance and shrugged. "He's gotten a lot better." She said, "Normally, he wanders around Ga-Metru, and before he didn't really like being touched without his consent. But for a while now he's been living at the coliseum with me, helping me train. He's had plenty of time to get attention from the Matoran, and it certainly gave them something to do while they waited for sports to come back."

"I bet it did!" he chuckled, "What about you? Did your home have sports?" Pohatu asked.

"Yeah," she answered, "we had a bunch of them. Not like kohlii, though…" She _had_ played sports in her human past, soccer being the most prominent, but the last time she even kicked a ball was when she was twelve, and based upon Hewkii's description it sounded like a mix between soccer, polo, and maybe a little bit of baseball.

"Did you attend any of them?"

"Only one." She answered absentmindedly as she watched the Matoran clamber over Beowulf, "But that was a long time ago, before I was—"

Kezoa stopped herself. She clapped a hand over her mouth, averting her eyes from Pohatu. She had nearly let it slip.

"—before you were abducted?" Pohatu asked. There was nothing cheerful about his tone; he was being totally and honestly solemn. Like pity.

She waited for a little, and then walked over to where the Matoran were tending to Beowulf.

"Yeah." She answered flatly.

()()()()()()()()()()()

"This looks like a good spot!" Pohatu proclaimed.

Kezoa glanced over. Their exchange long forgotten, Kezoa traveled with Hewkii, Pohatu, a somewhat calmer but still jumpy Beowulf, and a cluster of varied Matoran—most of them Po-Matoran—that traveled around the canyon, searching for an ideal place to make an arena. She carried a kohlii mallet resting against her left shoulder, since having been given a spare one by Pohatu after she had found Beowulf and the group decided that they had needed to move on. She repeatedly told Pohatu that she didn't need the stick, but Pohatu insisted that she have it and wouldn't take no for an answer. Kezoa had tried to continue the argument but it soon became apparent to her that she was only spinning her wheels, so she gave in and now she was carrying the mallet as they entered the new potential arena site.

The setting was smack between two towering solid protodermis cliff faces that made up a corridor of the Canyon of Unending Whispers. The cliff faces were normally just far enough apart from each other that they could fit everyone and Beowulf comfortably within the walls, and now they had entered into a large cylindrical clearing. It was three times larger than a tennis court, albeit round and not square, and the top yawned open to display the perfect blue sky and the two bright suns peering down at them from the blue.

Kezoa held a hand over her eyes and wandered over to the group of Matoran and Pohatu as they debated over the quality of the site.

"It's big, for starters," one was saying, "certainly big enough to support multiple teams during tournaments."

"We'll have to carve goals and seating," a Po-Matoran pointed out, "but I think that it'll be much easier to build it into the rock face than carve it in Po-Metru and bring it over here."

"That will take time, though…" someone muttered as Kezoa came up alongside them.

"Anything worth effort will take time." Hewkii pointed out.

"Well, there's only one way to find out;" Pohatu said, "let's have a match! The first team that makes two points wins!"

The Matoran cheered in agreement, and the entire group scattered, swarming around the arena. In a blink of an eye, goals—a large gateway made of sticks leaning against opposite ends of the clearing—were set up, two teams were determined; two Po-Matoran on one, Hewkii being one of the players much to her surprise, and two Ga-Matoran on the other, and before Kezoa knew what happened the goalies stood ready in front of the goals and the players stood in the middle of the arena, preparing for the game to start.

Kezoa quickly ran off field and over to Beowulf, who was lying against the far wall and sucking up the attentions of the Matoran that were with him. Kezoa plopped down and leaned back against Beowulf's chest as still more Matoran clambering up to sit on Beowulf's spine. The two playing Matoran, Hewkii and a Ga-Matoran, crossed sticks in the middle of the field, wishing each other luck in the upcoming game. Kezoa settled herself into her seat and nestled into the crook between Beowulf's forearm and body as she watched Pohatu, who bounced a kohlii ball in his hand once before throwing it into the arena.

Instantly, the arena shot to life as the Matoran around her cheered and the players zipped across the field, looking impossibly fast despite their stubby legs. Pohatu slowly rounded the entire arena, keeping an eye on the proceedings of the game as something close to a referee.

A Ga-Matoran had the kohlii ball. She was hitting it around with her mallet, avoiding the advances of Hewkii while running towards the rival goal. The Matoran guarding it crouched in a preparing stance, as if ready to spring and knock the ball away with his colorful round shield. In a desperate attempt, Hewkii swung around her front and tried to use the scoop end of his play stick to grab the ball, but the Ga-Matoran was prepared for it, and she too used the scoop end of her mallet to fling the ball high into the air.

Hewkii went skidding across the ground, and before he could get back on his feet, the Ga-Matoran gave her hammer a mighty roundhouse swing. It contacted the kohlii ball, causing a loud crack akin to a bat hitting a baseball. Beowulf's head popped up as Kezoa flinched, her hands partway to her ears. The kohlii ball made a rattling sound as it flew, near invisible, but the Po-Matoran goalie saw it coming, and he leaped up into the air and smacked the ball away from the goal with his shield.

The ball flew to the right, and Hewkii, who had been on the ground a second ago, now dashed after it like a dog after a rabbit, and he succeeded in catching it and tapping it with his mallet towards the other end. Less than halfway across the field, Hewkii extended his left leg, brought the play stick up parallel to the ground, and swung the hammer-side down and hit the kohlii ball. It soared into the air, and the Ga-Matoran goalie was obviously not expecting him to make a shot so far away from the goal. She started and then jumped to try and throw the kohlii ball out of the danger zone, but it was a hard and fast hit, and while she leaped spread-eagled the kohlii ball soared over her shoulder and slammed into the cliff wall within the gateway area.

"GOAL!" Pohatu roared, stopping where he was and pumping his fist in the air. "One point for Team Stone!"

The observing Matoran screamed with gusto, and Kezoa was astonished at how into it they were.

"How long did that take?" Kezoa wondered aloud, not really to anyone. A Po-Matoran, jumping up and down on Beowulf's back and yelling in excitement, started and looked down at her.

"What?" He asked, having not heard Kezoa in his adrenaline pumped state.

"How long did that first match take?" she asked again, "That couldn't have been over five minutes!"

"It wasn't." He assured, "Depending on the skills of the players, kohlii matches can last from a couple of seconds to over several hours. That's why there are several odd numbers of rounds of kohlii, to see which team can score the most points first. This is hardly a proper, official match—it's only to see how well of an arena this setting would make."

The kohlii ball was retrieved by the Ga-Matoran goalie, and she used an underhand toss to give it to Pohatu, who waited until the players were good and ready in the center of the field before he flipped the ball into the air and then tossed it once again between them.

With renewed conviction, the Ga-Matoran went after the kohlii ball again, but instead of heading straight to the opposing team, she instead made a feint as _if_ she was going to the opposite end, but as soon as Hewkii turned around to try and head her off, she made a quick left turn and ran towards that end of the field. For a moment, Hewkii was befuddled, but only for a moment. He took up his pole and sprinted as fast as his little legs could carry him, but he didn't head straight for her; he ran toward the goal, keeping an eye on her the whole time.

The Ga-Matoran made another swing, hitting the ball with her mallet to make a goal on the far left side of the field. Kezoa saw the goalie hold his shield up to knock the kohlii ball back, but Hewkii came out from his trajectory and caught the ball with the scoop. He swung it down towards the ground, and when it dropped onto the floor he quickly switched ends and began tapping it across the arena. But the Ga-Matoran was light on her feet, and apparently a quick study—she followed the same idea that Hewkii did, and she ran on an intersect path that brought her right where she wanted him.

She made a beeline for the ball, and she skid straight across Hewkii's path, using her scoop to swipe the ball out beneath his nose. Hewkii made a squeak of surprise as the Ga-Matoran hit the kohlii ball with her hammer and ran back towards Team Stone's goal. Hewkii tried to recover as quickly as he did in the first match, dashing madly after her. He was three strides away from her when she picked up the kohlii ball with her toes, did a back-flip, and flung the ball into the goal. It came straight for the goalie, but he didn't react as fast enough as he did the first time, and though he lifted up his shield, the ball blew past it and hit the goal.

Pohatu's proclamation of the point was drowned out by the Matoran all around the arena, which was saying something.

Team Blue had scored a point, bringing the total score up to a tie. The next team to make a point settled the match.

_I don't think it ever was really about which site would be most worthy for a kohlii field_, Kezoa thought with a grin as she watched the stomping, screaming, smiling Matoran, _I think _that_ was decided the minute we walked into the clearing_.

But it didn't matter, and Kezoa didn't really care if it did, because the third match had already gone underway.

Pohatu used the scoop end of his oversized kohlii play stick he held to toss it into the play field, and both Matoran made a mad grab for it with their mallets. The one who ended up nabbing though was Hewkii, and he wasted no time blasting past his opponent, hitting the ball over to the goal like his life depended on it. The Ga-Matoran was quick, but when she made a swing to flick the ball out of her opponents stick range, he swung the mallet back and smacked the ball in the direction of the goal, reminding Kezoa of a croquet game for some reason, just as the Ga-Matoran player's hammer whizzed by it. However, Team Blue's goalie was quicker on the draw, and instead of using her shield, she made a risky move and instead of bouncing the ball back into play, she actually _caught_ the ball in the scoop end of her play stick.

The Matoran around the arena cheered in amazement as the goalie flung the ball back towards her teammate, who also caught it with her scoop end and threw it onto the ground, switching back to the hammer and bringing it back over to Team Stone's end of the field. The goalie took a guarding stance and held his shield at the ready, and he was prepared when the Ga-Matoran player once again kicked the kohlii ball in the air and swung her mallet like a baseball bat. It collided against the ball and shot towards the goal, the ear-splitting CRACK-rattle hurt Kezoa's ears, and suddenly beside her Beowulf began to whine.

Kezoa was startled back into reality—she was amazed at how, despite not knowing the sport at all, she had become deeply immersed within the game play—and she turned over to Beowulf. His ears were back, his nostrils were flared open and he was sniffing deeply as he cast his gaze furtively about. There were quite a bunch of Matoran sitting with Beowulf, but not all of them noticed his behavior. Those that did though were looking back and forth from him to Kezoa uneasily.

"Beowulf?" Kezoa asked, reaching up and placing her palm against his cheek, "What's wrong?"

There was another CRACK, and Kezoa turned just in time to see Hewkii, after watching his opponent, pull off the same move that the Ga-Matoran player did; the baseball bat maneuver. The Ga-Matoran goalie was obviously startled by this, but this time she did not allow it to affect her as it did the first time, and she lifted her shield and managed to guard against it.

However, there was a lot of force and energy put into that throw, and when the kohlii ball hit the shield, it slammed the Ga-Matoran into the goal and the ball itself hurtled straight towards Pohatu.

"POHATU, WATCH OUT—!" Kezoa surged to her feet, and though he was on the complete opposite end of the field she still tried to step forward to help him.

Pohatu Nuva, however, did not need the help as he quickly pulled his kohlii play stick back behind his shoulder and threw the hammer-side down. The mallet connected with the kohlii ball, and if Kezoa thought that the hard hits made by the Matoran were loud, Pohatu's was _much_ louder. It sounded like a fighter jet had broke the sound barrier fifteen feet over her head, and Kezoa halted in her tracks and clapped her hands over her ears, as did the entire Matoran observers within the vicinity did. Beowulf howled in musical harmony and the kohlii ball sailed into the atmosphere and back into the direction they had come, deep into the Canyon of Unending whispers.

For a moment, there was only shocked silence as Kezoa, mouth agape, stared into the blue sky where the kohlii ball had been moments before. She took her hands away from her ringing ears and slowly turned to look at Pohatu.

He was still frozen in post-stroke position, hammer touching the ground (where an impact crater had formed) and one foot suspended in the air to keep his balance. His eyes wide and his mouth in a startled frown—the kind that someone made when they realized they had made a mistake the second after they incited the act.

He glanced quickly around the arena, although most of the Matoran's attention was still on the space where the kohlii ball had been blasted, and hid the play stick behind his back.

"Whoops."

()()()()()()()()()()

Kezoa's ears were still ringing, but the shock had long since died down. The kohlii ball had been knocked out of bounds, and it had been decided that though it had happened, the site would be a worthy spot to construct the first kohlii field.

"We've been through five other potential sites already," Pohatu told Kezoa, "and this one is the one that looks the most promising."

"I think it's a good idea!" Hewkii agreed enthusiastically, "It'll look just like the one in Ta-Koro!"

"That's the design the carvers tell me they're going for." Pohatu nodded. He had slung his kohlii stick across his shoulders, propping his arms on it and hooking his elbows on it in such away that his wrists dangled and the stick remained lock behind his neck.

Kezoa tapped her foot and looked around.

The Matoran, particularly the Po-Matoran and Ta-Matoran, in the vicinity were scaling the walls and discussing amongst themselves. The Po-Matoran and the Ta-Matoran were carvers and blacksmiths of a kind, respectively. The two Metrus were more often than not in direct trade with one another, as either the Ta-Matoran got their raw materials from Po-Metru or vice versa. She figured that they would be working very closely together on this project.

"When do you think the field will be up?" asked Hewkii.

"If everything goes off without a hitch, then it should be done in a month or so. Maybe less than that, if the Po-Matoran are motivated." Pohatu said.

"I sure hope so!" Hewkii said, "I can't wait to start playing kohlii again!"

Kezoa turned to him, "You must love kohlii a lot, Hewkii, to be saying that."

"I'm sure I'm not the only one!" Hewkii answered, grinning. He jumped in excitement and ran over to his fellow players that were conversing with one another some distance away. Kezoa realized that Beowulf was no where to be found.

_Where in the world did he_ go? She thought in frustration.

"Hey, sis," Pohatu walked up beside her and nudged her with the end of his kohlii stick. When she looked up at him he had a somewhat apologetic look besides his normally cheerful disposition, "sorry if I touched a nerve back then—I wasn't thinking it would still be a touchy subject with you."

_Oh_, _he's talking about _that…

Kezoa opened her mouth habitually to tell Pohatu it was fine, and that it wasn't a big deal, but a knot in her chest stopped her before she could get the words out. The words died in her throat before they materialized, and Kezoa sealed her mouth shut.

She _was_ still sensitive about it.

_But why_? She thought, _It's been a while since then; I haven't kept track of the time, but I _know_ for a fact that it's been a long time since I got kidnapped and…changed._

Kezoa almost raised a hand to look at it, but she realized where she was at the last second, and that Pohatu was still watching her, waiting for her to respond. She clenched her fist instead and looked away, her mind furiously coming up with an acceptance to his apology that would be able to go past mental the filter put up by her trauma.

Pohatu sighed deeply and kicked a foot back and forth.

"Hey, Kezoa, I—"

A scream broke the peace within the arena. Immediately, all conversations ceased and eyes were turned to the area where the sound originated from—the entrance to the arena, where they had came through some time ago.

Kezoa's eyes were glued to the entrance, and Pohatu and the Matoran beside her remained silent as they watched. Rapid, heavy footsteps began approaching, and Pohatu switched his kohlii mallet with his dual claw-like weapons. She followed suit and slowly raised her hand to clasp her spear, her own kohlii mallet gripped tightly in her off hand.

Before she could grab the spear however, the figure belonging to the footsteps materialized and an enormous object blasted into the arena, blood trailing in its wake. The Matoran yelled and surged into the walls to get out of the way, Kezoa leaped backward and Pohatu flung his climbing claws, but he missed, thankfully, as the creature that had barreled into the field was none other than an injured Beowulf himself.

He was breathing hard, his tongue hanging out from the side of his mouth, having either run from very far or very fast or possibly even both. What disturbed Kezoa the most though was the blood that was streaming from two long lacerations that stretched all the way across his right flank, from his shoulder blade to his hip. He was limping as well, favoring that side. Beowulf had ducked when Pohatu had thrown his climbing claws, and he staggered around to no particular area, disoriented.

"_Beowulf_!" Kezoa screamed. She dashed over to him, holding her hands out to him, "What happened?!"

"LOOK OUT!"

Kezoa peered behind Beowulf and her heart skipped a beat as the screaming Matoran scattered from the monster that had just entered—or rather, slithered—into the arena.

It was an enormous, rock-colored boa constrictor snake of a Rahi. It slid on its belly across the ground, and when it entered the arena, it raised itself up to a height of about thirty feet high. It had no organic components to it—the body was completely covered in armor, even the underside, but what was most intriguing about its design was the lack of perceptible eyes. Its head was just a smooth dew-dropped shape, from its tip a tongue darted out and whipped around, tasting the air.

"SCRAMBLE!" Pohatu roared, throwing his arm into the direction of the as of yet unexplored exit of the arena. The Matoran immediately began swarming toward the vicinity, the snake starting and looking around as if it was surprised by the flurry of noise.

"Come on, Beowulf," Kezoa murmured to him, rounding to his side and wrapping her hands around Beowulf's cheeks, getting ready to lead him out, "we gotta get out of here as soon as possible."

Kezoa pulled her Rahi forward with great resistance on his part. It was not on purpose, she knew, since he still favored his right side, but it was not making things easier.

"Kezoa!"

She looked to her left, where the sound had come from. Hewkii ran over to her, several Matoran trailing behind him.

"Quick, get on Beowulf!" Her Toa instinct activated and Kezoa released her Rahi and crouched down, offering a leg up to the smaller beings who took her up on her proposition. One by one, Kezoa lifted up a total of seven Matoran onto Beowulf's back before she stole a quick glance at the snake-like creature.

It was still looking around, searching for pray she assumed, but with a start she realized that they were the only ones left in the field.

Kezoa slid the kohlii stick into her back compartment and lurched over to Beowulf's nose and clasped his muzzle. She leaned her cheek against his and murmured to him in an attempt to keep him calm and quiet as they staggered painfully slowly around the deathtrap.

The snake stuck its tongue, searching. It didn't seem to notice them, and though Beowulf was moving along with heavy, deliberate footsteps, and the Matoran were too petrified in fear to make any noise whatsoever, the snake did not seem to notice them.

_Keep going; we're almost there_! Kezoa urged onward, to both herself and for Beowulf.

Of course, since she said that, the universe had to make the opposite so.

Hewkii staggered abruptly to the right when he skipped a beat in his walking pattern. Hewkii and the other Matoran lurched in that direction, and in the process, one of the Matoran tumbled out and flopped onto the ground, the kohlii balls that he had been carrying in his pack spewed outward, emitting sharp rattles that caused Kezoa whip her head around to check the snake.

It had heard the noise.

Its head split open to reveal two long fangs as it drew its body into the arena and coiled tightly into a striking position.

The adrenaline began to surge as Kezoa whipped around to the fallen Matoran. The snake darted forward and Kezoa yanked both her and the Matoran backward. The snake's nose plunged into the hard rock, crushing several unfortunate kohlii balls that had been in its path. As the snake attempted to pull out of the ground, Kezoa leaped onto Beowulf's back with the rescued Matoran in her arms. She leaned forward into Beowulf's body, nearly sandwiching the Matoran between her and the Rahi, and slapped Beowulf's shoulder hard.

He surged to life and loped forward just as the snake's nose broke free of the ground and tried to charge them again, slamming into the ground where they had just been. Beowulf's gait was very awkward, and it took everything in Kezoa's Rahi piloting power to keeping him straight as they galloped out of the arena and back into the Canyon of Unending whispers. They ended up getting into a bigger mess than they were in before.

The path was winding, and very curvy. Kezoa had to take the turns as fast as she could without crashing into the walls with the snake coming down hard on their heads. She could hear it ripping past the walls behind them as Kezoa directed injured Beowulf turn after turn. He seemed just as motivated to live as she was, and he darted around the corners so fast it was as if he was born to do so. It still wasn't enough as Kezoa could hear the snakes approaching sound grow louder the longer the chase was prolonged.

The snake slunk up behind them; Kezoa could feel it's breath on the back of her neck when she saw a hand out of the left corner of her vision. She cast her eyes over and saw Pohatu leaning out of a corner into some sort of cavern. Quickly, Kezoa leaned hard to the left, Beowulf following the motion of her body and coming to a halt to make a quick turn. It was a risky maneuver; the snake was right behind them, but just before its fanged mouth could close on them, Kezoa pushed Beowulf forward and they rocketed into the cavern where Pohatu and the other Matoran were hiding, the quick stop causing Beowulf to throw his passengers off of his back before landing on his injured flank. Beowulf gave out a squeal of pain before Kezoa rounded about and wrapped her arms tightly around his muzzle, sealing his jaws shut and stopping the sound.

The snake's enormous body continued to bear down the corridor until it came to a stop.

Kezoa, Pohatu, and all of the Matoran within the cavern inhaled deeply and froze.

The snake's body began to move; _it was turning around_.

Kezoa reached behind her to pull out her spear, but with a start she realized something:

It wasn't there.

Her heart skipped a beat as her mid frantically began retracing her steps, trying to figure out when it was she had been so stupid enough as to leave her spear behind as she watched the snake's camouflage stone body undulate and warp as it turned backwards itself.

Did she drop it? Did the surprise of the Rahi snake's attack cause her to drop her spear and leave it at the kohlii field, like Pohatu did with his climbing claws?

It was possible…but the theory disproved itself when the truth was revealed:

She had woken up early from a nightmare that morning, and she could not go back to sleep, and so she decided that she would create an impromptu training session. She was half asleep when she got up—and she had left her spear in its designated corner in her living quarters. She had forgotten about it when the day began and she was put under a training regimen…and it was still standing there, in its corner, left stupidly by its owner when she left for Po-Metru.

_I'm an IDIOT_!

The snake's head came into sight, and Kezoa prepared for the worst to happen—but it never did. The snake tasted the air, and then slithered onward; unaware of its quarry hidden in the cavern it had just passed by.

In disbelief over what occurred, Kezoa's mouth dropped as she watched the snake's body recede and taper off until its tail disappeared from view.

"It's still looking for us," Pohatu whispered.

Kezoa whipped over to him, "What was that thing?!"

"Not sure." He shook his head, "No doubt some creature that had been hibernating until it was roused."

"By what?!"

"Don't know that either."

"I've heard about it!" Hewkii hissed, "It's the Blind Wyrm, the only one of its kind—it is an ancient creature that sees with sound, and it uses it to hunt when it's not hibernating! Onewa said that it was one of the most notorious killers in the canyon—it devoured everything and anything that created noise, including Matoran! He thought that once we had returned that the Blind Wyrm would have long since died because of lack of food!"

"Well, _that_ theory's been shot down." Somebody grumbled.

"Is it venomous?" Kezoa demanded, remembering the wounds on Beowulf's side.

"No; it doesn't use venom to hunt—its fangs are just that: fangs. They don't serve any purpose other than to cut into food."

Kezoa sighed in relief and gave Beowulf's head an assuring scratch. He whined in response, his tail flicking.

"Did we wake that thing up?" a Matoran asked frantically, they all gathered around Beowulf and Kezoa to better be heard by one another so as not to speak too loudly to bring the monster back.

"I think so;" Pohatu said, kneeling by Kezoa's side, "you all _did_ hear how hard we were beating those kohlii balls…"

"That's probably what drew it to us." A Matoran said grimly.

"How do we beat it?" asked another.

"We'll have to sneak around it," Pohatu said, "and go get help into a settlement."

"But what about the kohlii field?"

Pohatu looked up at all of the expectant faces that waited for his response. Kezoa watched him, seeing what he would do. His face bore the expression of deep internal strife, and he shook his head and murmured softly:

"I can't fight the Wyrm without my climbing claws, and since that thing can blend in with the rock, I don't even know if I can find it again until it's too late. Without weapons to defeat that Matoran-eating creature roaming the canyon," he said, "we'll have to abandon it and look somewhere else."

Kezoa looked over at the Matoran at the response. Their faces dropped, and many of their heads sagged to look down at the floor, Pohatu included. Kezoa looked down at Beowulf, scratching his muzzle to keep him comfortable, which he probably wasn't. Kohlii obviously meant a lot to the Matoran…they had been rebuilding the island city for as long as Kezoa had known, and they were no doubt looking forward to the sport. Kezoa knew that when he was younger, despite always moving around, she knew for a fact that no matter where she went, she was always excited to get signed up for the local soccer team. Even though she was inactive now, she knew just how important it had been to her, and it broke her heart just imagining how the Matoran and Pohatu felt.

_There's gotta be _something…

The Blind Wyrm used sound to navigate, and no doubt to hunt. That was what drew it do them in the first place; the sound of the kohlii ball was no doubt what had drawn it to them. Beowulf had obviously known, and that was why he was freaking out. But why did he leave the safety of the arena? Did he try to run? No; it couldn't be. He would have tried to leave in the direction of the exit, not back into the canyon where the Wyrm no doubt had been slithering around. Did he attempt to fight it and run back when the attempt went south? Or was he trying to lead it away?

_Lead away_…? Kezoa thought. She twisted around to look at the entrance to the cave. If it was hungry, then it would follow whatever sound it would think would lead it to its next meal. Maybe even…

"Hewkii," Kezoa turned to the crestfallen Matoran. He started at his name and looked up at her, "Can Blind Wyrms swim?"

Hewkii gave her a strange look, Pohatu looked up at her with the same expression. "I should think not," he replied, "why?"

Kezoa turned to Pohatu, "Do you still have your kohlii stick?"

Pohatu nodded, reaching behind him and pulling it out. Kezoa drew out her own and shifting its weight in her hand. She turned back toward the Matoran.

"Do any of you still have kohlii balls?"

A Matoran started and reached into the pack hanging from his back. He rifled around it for a while before he pulled out a brand new kohlii ball.

"Perfect." Kezoa nodded, "Then we've got a chance to save the kohlii field!"

Instantly, the whole group's head shot up.

"You've gotta plan?" Pohatu asked.

Kezoa flashed him a smile, "I should hope so."

()()()()()()()()()()

Kezoa peered up over the edge of the canyon wall. She hadn't done this before, and scaling it's sides had been a little more than challenging for her, but her work was rewarded when she saw to her relief that the Sea of Protodermis was not too far off from where they were now as of that current moment. Its slivery surface glimmered in the hot evening air, and night was very close to falling, but now that Kezoa knew the location of the sea—and the routes to which carved deep into the top of the canyon—they were one step closer towards victory.

"This may just actually work!" Pohatu hissed loudly from an adjacent end of the canyon.

Kezoa swiveled her head around, searching the area to see if she could get a fix on where the Blind Wyrm was. It took some searching, but she spotted movement midway between them and the kohlii field site. Focusing more, she saw that the Blind Wyrm was there, and it was sliding around on its belly, still searching for them. She could hear its scales sliding on the rock that it was rubbing against, and it was headed ever so slightly away form them.

If the kohlii field was to be saved, then the Blind Wyrm had to go.

She turned to Pohatu, gazing off in the same direction she had, a hand over his eyes.

"You ready?" she whispered.

Pohatu turned to her and nodded, drawing out his kohlii stick and brandishing it, turning it thrice in hand. Kezoa looked down at the cave mouth where they had been moments ago. Hewkii was peering up at her, looking nervous. She gave him thumbs up and he ducked back into the cavern.

_Good, now we won't have to worry about them later_.

Beowulf was with Hewkii and the other Matoran in that cavern, out of the way so that when the snake came, it would blaze right past them without a second thought.

Kezoa hefted her own stick in her hand. _Easy does it, now…you're not playing the actual _game_, you're just playing a simple game of lacrosse. Catch! That's all…_

Pohatu pulled out a kohlii ball stored in his back compartment, as well as several spares that had been borrowed by the other Matoran. If this plan worked, only one kohlii ball would be lost—tumbling down to the depths of the sea, with the Blind Wyrm following close behind…where it would drown, and never again be a threat to the Matoran.

Pohatu bounced the ball in his hand. He held his kohlii stick ready, scoop end at the front. Kezoa mirrored his stance and nodded.

Pohatu threw the ball straight into the air; he swung his mallet at the precise moment and caught the ball in his scoop end, throwing it across the canyon corridor that separated them. Kezoa lifted up the scoop of her stick and caught it. Before she could relish in the victory, the sound of scales scraping against stone caught her attention. The snake had taken the bait, and it was headed straight for them.

"GO!" Kezoa yelled, running forward along the edge of the canyon and throwing the ball.

Pohatu caught it with his stick. He spun around and used the momentum to throw it back at her. Using the hammer end of the stick, Kezoa hit the globe and it went spinning across the gap between them. The snake was following close behind, and its head went back and forth as it tried to track the sound.

Kezoa looked up at their destination—it was rapidly approaching, and she and Pohatu led the blind snake through the winding twists and turns of the canyon. They came closer and closer to the sea, and they only nearly messed up twice, when Kezoa hit the ball too weakly and Pohatu had to bend down to hit it back. She was doing pretty well, considering.

_It's just a game of catch_. She continued telling herself.

They reached the mouth of the sea of protodermis, where the canyon road split into a delta.

"It's all yours, Pohatu!" Kezoa yelled at him, tossing the ball back.

Pohatu caught the ball and threw it into the ocean. It made a slapping sound, which the snake followed.

She was still running across the edge of the canyon, too busy watching the snake when she slipped. She shrieked in astonishment as she plummeted down the cliff face, bouncing on its crags.

"KEZOA!" Pohatu cried.

She landed on her stomach on the canyon floor, just meters away from the edge of the sea. Kezoa lifted her head up, and the snake was there. Its jaws were extended out towards her, and it was coming in fast. Kezoa threw her play stick and hit it smack in its nose. It pulled back rapidly, surprised. She jumped up to her feet and ran towards Pohatu, still standing on the cliff edge. The snake heard the movement and darted over in that direction, blocking her path. She went the other way, but before she took two strides she saw the creature's body blocked that way too. Turning back towards the Blind Wyrm, she saw it rise up to its full height and prepare to strike. With both exits locked, she was done for.

A mighty bellow sounded from the exit of the canyon, and Kezoa opened her eyes to see a large, dark shape leap into the air and tackle the beast. It was Beowulf. He bore his teeth and opened his jaw wide, locking them around the Wyrm's neck and forcing it to the ground. The Wyrm shrieked and collided into the stone floor, its body writhing and thrashing. Kezoa took this opportunity and escaped from the clutches of the snake, ducking beneath its twists coils. She ran towards the opposite end of the delta, but the Wyrm followed in that general direction, lunging and colliding on the ground just several meters away from Kezoa's feet.

Out of instinct, Kezoa whirled around and raced back in the opposite direction, but tripping over something on her way. As she slid across the ground, she turned to see what it was that tripped her and saw the kohlii stick.

She reached out and grabbed it, as any weapon was better than none. She looked up at Pohatu, who had thrown a kohlii ball into the ocean. The sound of it hitting the water caused the snake to throw Beowulf off of its neck and lift its head to try and identify what it was that had caused the noise.

Beowulf landed on the ground, he made very little sound as he did so, and when he got to his feet, he began running over to Kezoa.

Her eyes widened. She looked up at Pohatu and waved her arms to catch his attention, and when she did, she made motions that told him exactly what she wanted him to do. Pohatu nodded in understanding and pulled out another kohlii ball.

Kezoa widened her stance. She gauged the distance between her and the approaching Beowulf, and the striking distance the snake had. Deciding that she had to take a chance, Kezoa lifted two fingers to her mouth and whistled. The snake whirled around at the sound as Kezoa stretched her arm out for Beowulf. Instinct kicked in for him, and the many hours of training that they went through clicked in his brain and he headed straight towards her hand. She watched and waited as Beowulf drew closer. The sight of the snake coiling and getting ready to strike frightened her, and her past failure that morning came back to her full force, but she forced both feelings down.

_The past is the past_. She told herself, _and I'm going to do it this time…without my powers_!

Kezoa's fingers hooked on the edge of Beowulf's shoulder. She sprang upward, lifting a leg over his body and completing a flourishing moving mount. The next part was harder.

Kezoa brandished the kohlii stick, and from the opposite end of the delta, Pohatu threw a kohlii ball up in the air and used the stick to toss it towards her.

_The moment of truth_.

Keeping her eye on the ball, she pulled her arm back. When the ball came within range, Kezoa flung the play stick's hammer end towards the kohlii ball, in the direction of the sea.

The moment the ball contacted the hammer, it made an enormous CRACK!

The snake's body twisted around in the direction. The ball blew past its head, creating a rattling sound as it went. The creature' followed the direction of the sound, and when it dropped into the deep end of the water, the Wyrm didn't hesitate to dive right in.

It realized its mistake too late, and Kezoa could see the last bit of its tail thrashing as it disappeared under the silvery surface of the ocean, never to surface again.

()()()()()()()()()()

"We welcome you all to Po-Metru, and to this blessed arena," Turaga Onewa crowed over the screaming Matoran fans, littered around the stadium seats. Matoran from all six Metrus had gathered today, and were mixing and mingling in the seating area, set high above the arena as to be able to see the goings on, and as well to keep them safe from foul balls that were sometimes liable to exit the playing field. Turaga Onewa was perched in a skybox in the northern end of the arena, just above the scoreboard, were another Matoran stood waiting to add large round boulders to each of the teams whenever they made a point.

Beside Turaga Onewa stood Turagas Vakama and Whenua, representing their villages that were entered into the very first kohlii match in Metru Nui.

"And we are grateful for the support of the Great Spirit," Onewa continued, "for allowing us this opportunity. And we are also grateful toward our protectors—"

Turaga Onewa used his staff to gesture towards the podium above him, were a lone figure stood:

"Toa Pohatu, our patron of kohlii!"

Pohatu waved to the crowd with both hands as they erupted into cheering.

"Toa Onua, spirit of earth!"

Onua, entered in from the left of Pohatu, and when he reached his brother's side he cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled to the crowd:

"ARE YOU READY FOR SOME KOHLII-I-I-I-I—?!"

His was met with massive positive response. Pohatu shook his head with a smile on his face and thumped his brother's back.

"From Ta-Metru, Toa Tahu—spirit of fire!" Onewa announced.

Toa Tahu entered in from the right. He waved at the crowd, but didn't appear very enthusiastic about being in the newly completed kohlii field. Perhaps it brought back bittersweet memories…who knew?

"And," Onewa added, "we also have a special guest here with us today—if not for her valiant cooperation with Toa Pohatu, on protecting our Matoran and banishing the Blind Wyrm from the Canyon of Unending whispers, we would not have our kohlii field today! Please welcome our guest: Toa Kezoa!"

Kezoa nearly missed her queue, she was so nervous. When her name was mentioned, she surged forward and nearly collided with Onua. Following her brother's example, Kezoa lifted a hand and waved, smiling awkwardly. The crowd cheered at her appearance, and Kezoa was once again floored at how loud they could be.

"Once again, we welcome you all to Po-Metru, and we dedicate this field to the Great Spirit!"

"UNITY! DUTY! DESTINY!" the Matoran chorused.

Onewa nodded, and he lifted his staff.

"Let the games begin!"

Pohatu draped an arm over Kezoa's shoulder and pulled her to him in a tight side-hug. Kezoa squeaked in surprise, but this time she didn't hesitate to hug him back. All four Toa sat down as the three teams representing the three different Metru's present entered the stadium.

"It hasn't been that long since building started," Kezoa said, "it's amazing that everyone was able to get the arena done so quickly!"

It had been a while, but Kezoa hadn't really noticed since she had been too busy tending to Beowulf. He had recovered just enough for Kezoa to allow herself to come to the arena, and she was glad that she did.

"Nothing can stop the Matoran once they put their mind to something!" Onua crowed.

"One cannot doubt that," Pohatu said, "But dedication and ingenuity are not just traits exclusively given to Matoran!"

Kezoa looked over and saw Pohatu grinning at her.

"Stop it, already!" Kezoa gave her brother a shove, but she was smiling, "Can we just watch the game?"

Tahu sneered and rolled his eyes, but this motion went unnoticed to the others.

"Sister, I hope we are on good terms, then?" Pohatu asked.

Kezoa turned to Pohatu and gave him a funny look.

"You're still worried about that?" she laughed. Pohatu shrugged, his face reflecting all seriousness. Kezoa elbowed him affectionately.

"You were never on my bad side, Pohatu, so don't worry about that." She told him, "It's just…I need a little more time to heal, is all."

"Are you healing?" Onua questioned.

Kezoa looked down at the stadium. The Matoran were sprinting around the arena, and whenever a point was made, the observing ones released a huge cheer.

"Yeah." She nodded. Her heart was light, "I most certainly am."

()()()()()()()()()()

Maltegere had been largely absent as of late. But it was for good reason, he believed.

He was seated, cross-legged, within a deep cave—so deep, that no light entered. It was here that he could magnify his concentration to the maximum, and begin his operation. Breathing easily, Maltegere focused on his body and on the molecules therein. He willed them to change constitution, without the bindings coming undone. A painful shock went through his frame, but it left so quickly it was a wonder that it was there to begin with. Maltegere opened his eyes and saw that he succeeded.

His shadows danced all around him, singing their songs of death and destruction. He was now in the shadow realm—that fine line between your feet and the ground where all shadows lived and reigned.

Several of the shadows crooned and swooped over to him, nuzzling his body (if it could be called that; here, he was no more than a shadow himself). Maltegere brushed his hands across their heads, smiling and speaking to them softly.

"Yes, it has been a while since I was with you, hasn't it?" he whispered, "But worry not, my friends; I shall have much use of you in the days that are to come."

Maltegere looked down at a particularly cozy shadow rubbing against his side. He took its head in his hand and lifted it to his eye-level.

"Hello, there." He crooned. The shadow warbled and stuck its tongue out, licking his mask. Maltegere smiled and began scratching the bottom of its jaw.

"I have a job for you, little one." He told it, "Go to Ta-Metru. Take the form of whatever is easiest and wreak havoc. Be sure to draw Toa Kezoa out of her hiding place, and tell me when she does."

The shadow chirped in acknowledgement and pulled out of Maltegere's grip, speeding away towards the city's direction. Maltegere turned toward the rest of his shadows and gave them a wild grin.

"As for the rest of you," he ordered, "you are coming with me. We're about to storm a castle."

* * *

AN: I don't want school to start... T^T


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